An Undefined Lifetime
by MidgetWarlord
Summary: I do not have a Description just yet, but thats because im trying something new, So read to find out what it is! YOU WILL LOVE IT! I can tell you, a lone Human names Elijah Pearson, and Everyone's favorite Spyro characters will be there! Rated M for Sexual references and language.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, so, I'm back with that Spyro the dragon Story I promised you guys(even if very few people). I know it's been a while, but I think you might like this story! I understand that I'm sort of breaking a rule with this one, but sort of not…**

 **I am going to post multiple chapters, each containing a scene, whether it be a prologue, an action scene, a Climax, or an ending, and each will belong to a different story line. In comments or PM's, you few will tell me which scene interest you the most, and I will write the story line pertaining to that scene. They will all contain most of the same characters, if not all of them.**

 **Some may be confusing, but the point of these is not for you to understand them, it's for you to choose which is more interesting. More or less, you will chose the big, story changing points.**

 **NOTE: It may end up that I ask for your ideas to keep it going, and depending on which you guys choose, I will tell you. Also, please know that some of these ideas will be SOMEWHAT borrowed from other writer's, but will be different. So if you recognize any of the events, it means you have good taste in stories (Because I read them too!)**

 **Or, it might just be coincidence that mine and another author's are similar (I haven't read EVERY Spyro FanFic out there!)**

 **Another thing I've noticed is that in my last one, I made a few mistakes. You see, I haven't played the games in SOOOO long, and even then, I don't think I played them very well. I don't remember much of the rules in the game, such as how only dragons could use Spirit Gems and such, but in my last one, I forgot and made it so Ashley used them once. I've learned this in other stories, and I'm still learning, so if you find mistakes like that again, please tell me.**

 **Just one last reminder, I don't own any of the Spyro Game characters, use common sense to figure out which are mine, and I will also tell you if I happen to use another author's characters.**

 **Other than that, this is all I have to say, oh, well, one more thing; I hope you enjoy!**

 **The misunderstood child.**

Elijah Pearson, the only human in the dragon realms, felt alone. The world he thought could only be better than his home, proved him wrong yet again.

"Damn you all! Why are you so against me?!" He screamed. He knew it was a pointless question, as those he was speaking to were to busy trying to kill him.

Even his two favorite video game characters were attacking him.

Spyro shot ice spikes at him, and they rained down on Elijah like machinegun fire, landing at his feet, some nearly hitting him. However, the dragon's tactic was inaccurate, and hardly posed a threat to hitting Elijah. It wasn't taking him much effort to doge the few that might hit him, so he yelled,

"Come on, man! Stop this! I don't want- No, I WON'T fight you! Stop tying to kill me for one Fucking Second, and let's talk!"

He learned to late that the tactic wasn't supposed to kill him….

It was a distraction.

Cynder made her way behind him, and attacked now. Spyro's attack ceased, and gave Elijah a false sense of hole.

"Thank you, now we can ta-" He got no further. Spyro recognized Cynder's attack even before it hit the Hairless ape, as they called him.

Phantom Fright.

Elijah froze the moment her attack hit him, his eyes went wide, his pupils dilated.

"No…" he said shakily. Spyro and Cynder were the only ones who knew the Hairless Ape was hit, as at this point, they were the only ones still brave enough to attack him.

Originally, there had been more than a dozen guards out here, including 4 Fully grown Dragons, but now only these two remained. Neither Spyro or Cynder knew how the Hairless Ape's weapon worked, but however it did, it was effective. All the original guards were down, bleeding from small holes in their fur covered skin and scales alike. The weapon was loud and looked strange, but the Hairless Ape very clearly demonstrated his skill with the weapon. Now, the only remaining guards that showed up with Spyro and Cynder, kept their distance from the fight.

Spyro also noticed a much smaller thing at his hip, but wasn't sure what it did. So, he assumed it was just as bad as the large one he held.

Now, with the guards watching, Spyro and Cynder advanced on the Hairless Ape from both sides. He stood there, Frozen, as he saw his worst dreams before his eyes.

25 feet.

20 feet.

15 feet.

They faltered in their steps when they heard the Hairless Ape say, "No, not again." Cynder was confused.

'again'? That would mean…. He's already lived through his worst nightmares?

She felt a very small amount of guilt now, but then advanced again, pushing it aside. Elijah kept mumbling to himself, each time his voice grew with a note of something Cynder couldn't quite identify, "Not again… not again…. Not again… not again.. not again, not again, not again not again not again not again! Not again!" Then, just as the two dragons came within 5 feet, he roared, "NEVER AGAIN!"

Now Cynder could identify that note in his voice; it was THE mixture, the most potent mixture of feelings, the one that brewed devastation, that reaped death, that drive one to the edge. A mixture of Anger, Desperation, Sadness, And Pain. However, it wasn't alone these four feelings that made it this way, it was the absence of another…

Fear.

It didn't make sense to her! Her power should have infused him with fear. And yet here he was… it bothered Cynder even more than the realization that came with her understanding of fear.

Fear, was the only feeling that could restrain a living creature from crossing a line because of Anger.

Fear was the only thing that could keep Pain from overwhelming an individual.

Fear was the only thing that could keep Desperation from acting out.

Fear was the only thing that kept Sadness from breaking down mental barriers that shouldn't be broken.

Cynder could sense no fear in his words.

Without the fear, Desperation fueled Sadness… Sadness fueled Pain… And Pain fueled anger. And Cynder knew all of this.

Elijah shot away from them, going from standing to full on sprinting to the right. Towards the city. Cynder looked at Spyro with a terrified look in her eyes. Spyro now looked concerned for his mate, and walked over to talk to her.

"What's wrong?" He asked, but she shook her head, and yelled, "I Don't understand! That should have rendered him petrified with fear!"

"He looked pretty scared to me."

"No! You don't understand!" she said, then growled and shot After Elijah.

"We can't let him get into the city. If he does, it could be catastrophic!" She yelled over her shoulder, using her power of wind to make sure her voice reached Spyro. She didn't need to see Spyro to know he was confused, and she yelled a short explanation, "My Phantom Fright didn't do what it was supposed to do, and he's incredibly dangerous right now!"

She took off, and flew past the him propelling herself with the wind aiding her. She flew past the Hairless Ape, and put some distance between them before stopping and watching him.

He randomly rolled from time to time, dodging obstacles visible only to his eyes. It seemed very violent, and Cynder wondered what it was he saw. Spyro was a little slow, but still made it to her long before the Hairless Ape did.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked, and she looked at him funny, because normally Spyro took the lead in these situations.

"This is your place of expertise, your power is fear, not mine." He replied to her look. She nodded, and thought a moment, before replying, "Do everything you can to draw him away from the city. We have to keep him occupied until the Phantom Fright wears off, and he comes back to his senses." She hesitated before adding, "Spyro, we may have made a mistake this time."

"Why do you say that?" He questioned.

"I don't know… there have been a number of things, but nothing deciding yet."

"Well, unless you find something deciding, I think our goal should still be to kill him." He said, not having listened at all to her suggestion. Spyro didn't notice it, but Cynder looked at him with disbelief of how ignorant he was being.

Spyro began firing ice spikes, fireballs, and earth shots, cycling between the different powers. Cynder stayed back and waited, unsure of if she should follow suit.

Cynder could now recall that the Hairless Ape had called itself a… Hoo-man? She wasn't sure if that was pronounced right, but she watched the Hoo-man dodge the projectiles, easily. He came closer and closer until Spyro stopped, and charged at the Hoo-man, who's eyes were filled with rage.

"Die you ape scum!" He yelled, making Cynder flinch at how harsh it was. Spyro engaged in close combat with him, and at first, it seemed neither would get the upper hand. Then, the Hoo-man began to gain the upper hand, just as it seemed he would begin to loose. The hoo-man had dropped his original weapon during his attempts to dodge Spyro's attacks, and now held a knife.

The Hoo-man was bleeding from many cuts and stabs all across his body, but they didn't slow him in the slightest.

Everyone Spyro tried to swipe him with his claws, the Hoo-man would stab his paw or arm and force him to back up. Everytime this happened, the Hoo-man advanced. He was more agile than the dragon, he dodged tail strikes, wings, claws, and the few element attacks Spyro could fit into the mix.

Then, Spyro began using his superior weight and size against the Hoo-man. Spyro tackled the Hoo-man and used his weight to pin him beneath.

"Get – Off- Me!" He wheezed, hopelessly trying to push the dragon off.

"Its over, Ape." He said, and leaned his head down- and stopped. He stopped because the Hoo-man started laughing.

He actually began laughing, just as Spyro was leaning down to bite it's head off.

"What's so funny?" Spyro asked, annoyed at this mockery.

"You dragons.. have a real… problem… with assuming… I'm done for…" He said, breathing difficult with the weight on his chest. Both dragons cocked their heads sideways, confused.

"How does this not spell the end for you ape?" Spyro asked, more curious than annoyed now.

"For the last time, I'm a Human, NOT one of those damned apes! And again, I just want to talk, but if you keep attacking, don't think I won't keep fighting! I will always keep fighting, because that's what my race does. We fight like hell our entire lives, but we fight hardest when we're close to the end."

Cynder couldn't hear even a trace of deception or anger in his words. Apparently neither did Spyro, because he cautiously stood, and backed away from the Human a little.

He did, however, still look ready to end the Human.

"Why haven't we heard of these, Hoo-mans before?"

"Its not Hoo-man, it's Human. And the reason for that, I don't know for sure, but I am almost certain that I am on a different world, with no way to go back." He said, and Cynder could hear something in those past 6 words. It was a little bit of happiness.

"You don't want to go back, do you?" She asked, after peicing together the meaning of the trace of happiness in those words. The Human looked shocked, and he hesitated a moment. Then, he sighed, and dropped his eyes.

"No, I don't."

"Why? Why wouldn't you want to go back home?" Cynder asked, pushing past Spyro, ignoring his attempts to keep her from approaching the Human.

"Because I have no family there, no friends, no pets…" He paused a moment, then added quietly, "No home."

Of course he had a house, He owned a small appartment, but a house isn't what he meant by home. Somehow, Cynder knew this. He would never understand just how this Dragoness understood emotions so well.

She turned to Spyro with a sad look. "Now I have my deciding proof."

Spyro sighed, and said quietly, "Ok, I agree. But what about what he's done?"

Elijah's head snapped up at those words, and he opened his mouth to speak-

BAM!

A boulder hit him square in the face, breaking his nose and a few teeth. His body flew from the impact, and landed before sliding an additional 5 feet. He wad in his feet immediately, and just in time to avoid a massive Ice Spike that would have put a hold in him so big, one could have seem through it.

He watched the spike hit the ground where he was just standing, and looked up to find the source. He looked at Spyro, who looked just as confused as Elijah felt. If it wasn't Spyro, then who?!

He scanned the Skies.

Then he saw it. A group of three dragons flying towards him. They looked powerful, even from here.

Elijah didn't know if yet, but the Guardians had arrived.

And they weren't happy.

 **Well how's that for a sneak peak!**

 **Just don't begin asking yet, there will be ATLEAST one more, if not two or three. I know there are atleast a few of you who will read this story, so please vote once I get them out**!


	2. Chapter 2

**This is the second one, again, don't vote just yet! At the moment, I've got one more idea after this one! And this one will be closer to the beginning of the story, if this one is chosen. Again, same character, different story line, However, still pay attention to character details! Since it is the same characters, the details will be the same! And I won't give them all in one story.**

Elijah woke with a start. His head spun, he felt noxious. He fought the urge to throw up, gripping his stomach, and let loose a painful groan. He felt the pain begin to slowly subside, and 10 minutes later, he was feeling ok.

Confused, he brought his head up, and looked around. This only brought more confusion.

He was sitting in a field, with a small creek running down the middle. It had trees on both sides, and they looked dense. He heard birds chirping softly, the wind in the trees, and the water-

Water!

He realized he was incredibly thirsty, his throat was dry, and he still had a head ache. He stood, only to fall again. Unfazed, he tried again with the same result. Now frustrated, he tried again, and fell again. He growled quietly in anger, then started too crawl to the edge of the water.

When he reached it, he gasped. It was so clear! And clean! He took a drink, slurping loudly. Then, he stopped.

"Where am I?" He whispered to himself, frowning. One could never find a stream like this in America, his home.

"I've heard places in other counties are this clean, but how could I have ended up in another country?" He asked himself out loud.

He shook his head after a moment of thinking about it, and went back to drinking the water. When he was finished, he looked his body over for injuries.

His gear, once a dirty but intact Soldiers Uniform, was now cut and bloodied in a few places. His boots had blood, none of it his, as did his Gloves, but relatively no damage. His helmet was a little beat up, but looked like it still had some life left. His goggles were not the same case, however, and were shattered to the point beyond being able to see, the only thing keeping the glass there was a thin layer of anti-shatter plastic. However, being the scavenger/Hoarder he was, he kept them.

He looked for his backpack and Weapons, and found them back over where he woke. He was about to try and stand again, when he remembered what happened before. He tried anyways, but carefully.

To his surprise, he found it effortless to stand. He took one step. Then another, and another, and another until he reached his pack and Weapon. He opened his pack first, and found everything still inside, 3 days provisions, a map, a compass, his sleeping bag, few cooking supplies, his ammunition, and his Gunpowder reserves. He still had no use for this, but when he found it in the storeroom of an old mine, he figured he might make some explosives someday.

If only he knew how.

He set his pack aside, and picked up his M16 Rifle. He took out the clip, and found it still had bullets in it.

"Who the hell moves an unconscious person to some random Forrest in another country, and doesn't take their supplies?!" He asked himself, then realized he had a problem with talking to himself.

 _Probably the result of living alone in an apocalyptic world for 3 Years, he thought, mentally rolling his eyes._

He swung the backpack over his shoulder, picked up his Rifle, shouldered it, then took a step. He stumbled, but caught himself. Cautiously, he tried again. He took another step, and another, slowly picking up speed until he was walking at a decent pace.

He noticed his condition slowly improving, as just after he woke up this morning, his Pack seemed really heavy, and in truth, it was. However, after years of carrying it, it didn't seem that heavy. Now he felt that way again, and managed to carry it effortlessly again.

He even managed to start jogging, but when he tried to run, he started stumbling. He had been following the creek for a few hours, when he found a trail on the right side.

He found that while the trees were dense, there was ample light that made it through the canopy. He hadn't seen another animals so far, but he could hear rustling in bushes that indicated small animals moving in them.

Rabbits, he assumed.

He kept walking for another four hours before he noticed the light fading. He kept walking, but kept his eyes open, searching for a good place to make a camp. He quickly found a small clearing off to the left of the trail. He pulled out his sleeping bag, and used his knife to open a can of beans.

He ate them cold, as he didn't dare light a fire until he knew more about the area. After his cold meal and a swig of water from his canteen, he unrolled his sleeping bag, and wrapped himself up in it. He was asleep quickly, and slept dreamlessly.

He slept soundly the entire night.

When he woke in the morning, he felt refreshed. He packed up his Sleeping bag, then pulled out some of the salted meat he had. After he finished eating, he was on the move again.

As he walked, he noticed the trees became much less dense, it reminded him of a hiking trail he went on when he was younger. Not that he was that old now, only 17 years old. However, for his young age, he was smart and resourceful.

Being so, he got off the trail, and walked through the trees just off the left side of the path. Just far enough that he wouldn't be seen from anyone further down the path, and he would have ample warning of other people.

He didn't stop for lunch, but ate another simple meal of Salted meat while walking. Not more than 5 minutes after he pulled out the piece of meat, he heard an animal. It sounded big. He heard the heavy footsteps of something nearby, and immediately ran for a suitable tree, and climbed it.

He climbed as quietly as he could, and soon stopped at a branch about 12 feet off the ground. He listened as the footsteps grew closer. He held his Rifle tightly, with both hands, but was not nervous. He was actually getting a little excited. He had never seen a bear up close before.

To his amazement and terror, it was not a bear that came into view.

It was a group of walking apes. He found that they were stepping in unison, and it made it sound like one set of feet. The part that scared him, was the fact that they were armed. The 7 Apes held a variety of weapons, a few clubs, some had swords, and one had a bow.

And he could tell by their body language that they did not have good intentions in mind. He suddenly felt bad for whoever was unlucky enough to cross their path. They passed him quickly, and he waited for their footsteps to fade before jumping down.

They weren't using the path, just like him, so they probably had similar intentions of not being seen. Not that they were quiet to begin with.

He wanted to begin walking another direction, but something inside his head told him that wasn't a good idea. He trusted his instincts, and cautiously followed.

He hadn't followed them for more than a few hours, when he realized they had stopped. He got closer and found them in a clearing, setting up camp. He figured it was kind of early for that, unless, they knew they were close to their destination and wanted a good rest…

He shrugged, and decided to do the same. He made his camp a solid 75 feet away, and it really wasn't a camp. He had his sleeping bag laid out on a particularly thick branch of a tree. Soon, night was beginning to fall, and he heard the sounds of wood being chopped. A few minutes later, he smelt smoke.

 _Really? A camp fire?_ He thought, but shrugged the thought away. Actually, he realized, that would be good for him. He could get closer, and listen to them, find out the strange Ape creatures' intentions.

Not much more than two hours later, night had fallen, the fire was visible through the trees, and he could hear the crackling of the fire. He came down from the tree, and came to the edge of the clearing.

He saw 5 of the 7 Apes asleep on the ground, while the other two sat across the fire from each other, talking.

"How about you? Are you nervous?" One asked. The other scoffed, and said confidently, "Of course not. Those dragons are As good as dead."

The other didn't seem quite convinced, and asked nervously, "Are you sure? There are only 7 of us-"

"and only two of them!" the other interrupted.

"Two of the most powerful dragons in the world." He responded, annoyed at The interruption.

The other acknowledged this, and said, "Yes, but, we are the 7 most powerful apes in the world." He then added in a reassuring tone, "Show no mercy, and you will survive."

Now the other looked fairly confident, or, atleast not worried anymore. Now he had a curious tone, and asked, "So why are we even still trying to kill the dragons? I mean, they fought us because we decided to aid Malefor-" he was cut off with a resounding slap to the face, and an angry response, "You don't need to think about that! So what if we helped Malefor? They still attacked us, and deserve to die."

"But we attacked first-" another slap, and another, even angrier response, "It doesn't matter! Get that out of your head! Focus on the fight tomorrow, on surviving, and avenging our fallen brothers from the war!"

The ape now seemed to have realized what pushing the topic lead to, and nodded submissively before being quiet.

Elijah took that as his cue to leave. He silently made it back to his tree, and climbed up it. Thoughts swirled around his head,

 _What is this place?_

 _Why are there Talking, weapon wielding apes?_

 _Did one of them mention Dragons?_

 _Could they have been telling the truth about dragons?_

 _And why does that name, Malefor, sound familiar?_

 _Who are the good guys here?_

 _That thought was the one he decided to focus on,_

 _That young one seemed to have some information the other didn't want him to think about, so that SHOULD make it credible, right? He sighed mentally, well, he said stuff about attacking first, and helping this Malefor_ \- then it hit him, _Malefor?! As in the videogame Villain? THAT Malefor? If it is that one, then I really should be helping the Dragons… wait, but don't I look like an Ape? I mean, it's insulting, but I know I do look similar…_ he sighed again, _well, I'll have to pick my moments._ He shook his head, as he realized he was arguing with himself.

With that, he settled in for sleep. His last thought before sleep claimed him brought a smile to his face,

 _Wow, I'm actually hiding from Apes in a TREE!_

 **A quick clarification, by heavy footsteps, I didn't mean the ground was shaking, I meant that it sounded like loud footsteps.**

 **So, this is yet another, and right now I have just one more idea, but I might actually think of another between now and the next post. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this one, and I hope you choose wisely…**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry that this took so long to get posted, but I hit a few delays. Actually, this one was thought of in the middle of another, and I couldn't help but stop that one, and begin writing this one.**

 **I also got this idea from a song, so I'll have the link for that song at the end of the chapter, but I do have to change it up from my original idea with the song.**

 **So, this choice requires just a little background info before I start. First off, this takes place about 3 years after Malefor is defeated, however, his Ape armies still wage war on Warfang. Spyro and Cynder have not returned, and Warfang begins to loose the war without their help. Unknown to the city, when Malefor was defeated, the large burst of energy and magic brought a human into the world. He is not old, but wise, not young, but adventurous.**

 **His name is Elijah, just like in the other choices. While wandering the new world he woke up in for a few weeks, he finds out a lot about the world he's in.**

 **First, most of the creatures attacked him on sight. At first, he didn't know why, but soon, he found out. That is the second thing he finds out, the apes are fighting a brutal war with the other creatures of the world. And he looks like them.**

 **However, even with the hostile actions towards him, he knows he must help defeat the apes. Mostly because they attacked everything without Mercy or reason. And in very wrong ways, tearing off limbs, or playing with their victims.**

 **And so, one day, while he was studying the village (He had not made himself known yet) he watched the apes attack. He stood, amazed and horrified at the cruelty and relentlessness of these apes. When he could no longer stand to watch, he went down to help.**

 **He found a Red dragon child, not much larger than German Shepard dog, and found the Dragon fiercely fighting off the apes. Elijah jumped in and helped, and by the end of the day, he had found that the child was entirely untrusting of Elijah…. And the only survivor.**

 **This is where the story begins….**

"Why?! Why didn't you just leave me to die!?" Screamed the red dragon.

"The only question you should be asking me, is why I didn't help sooner." Elijah replied, his voice had a hint of sorrow. The child did not hear the note of sorrow, and continued yelling, "Why didn't you just kill me yourself, Ape!"

Elijah's head snapped up at that, and he stood from his sitting position and yelled, "I am not an Ape! I am a human! And what kind of Gratitude is this? I saved your life, and this is how you repay me?!"

The dragon looked down in slight shame, as he realized what he was doing. After a moment, he looked back up, and asked, with more respect in his voice, "But why am I still here with you? Why am I here?"

Elijah grinned widely now, confusing the Dragon, and he said, "Well, I saw you fight, and it gave me an idea."

He now had the young dragon's attention, so he continued, "You see, I've been a fighter all my life, and I've always tried to fight for what I feel is right. Even if that means on the loosing side. And I don't feel that what these apes are doing is right. And while I am still willing to fight this alone, I can't win without some help."

"So why am I here?" Asked the dragon, anticipation in his voice.

"I need YOUR help." He said, and watched the dragon's face break into a bright smile, but it was quickly replaced by curiosity, and he asked, "Why me? I'm so young. Why not an adult?"

"Because adults aren't as open as you are. They wouldn't have heard me out, they would have killed me outright because of experiences with creatures that look like me. Plus, you might not be able to take down as many apes as a grown dragon right now, but with training, you could become just as deadly, maybe even more, because of your size. You might think your size limits you, but think about it like this, can a fully grown dragon sneak through bushes? Can they ambush apes from trees? Can they move as fast as you? And are you as big a target for archers?"

He had more than made his point, he realized, and stopped to allow the dragon to ask his questions.

"But how will I get to be like that?"

Elijah grinned again, "I'll train you. I fight like them, but I'm much better than them, so if you train against me, and can beat me, you can beat them."

"What about against dragons?" He asked, but Elijah waved his hand dismissively and said,

"You don't need to fight dragons, your fighting Apes. If we run into trouble with dragons, you leave that to me."

"Well, ok, but what can just you and I do?" He asked, still uncertain.

"Well, your just a start. I'll train you first, then we can find others."

"But wh-" he started again, but Elijah interrupted him, "Stop, don't worry about anything else, just me training you. You will understand the plan more as we go."

The dragon reluctantly nodded, and asked, "What first?"

"Well, names of course!"

"Oh, right." The dragon said, then continued, "My name is Chandler."

"And mine is Elijah."

It was quiet a moment, before Elijah said, "Well, now we eat lunch."

Chandler grinned and said, "I couldn't have agreed more."

 **Ok, I know that was incredibly short, but you can all tell what happens next. Also, the song that gave me this idea is called Phoenix, by Fall Out Boy. It is changed from that original idea, but is still similar.**

 **This also happens to be the last choice, so… LET ME KNOW WHICH YOU WANT!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ok, so, I think that this was the best option, as both were tied… I think… and then Option C had my vote as well. Meaning, I really wanted to write about that one. Thank you to all that voted, and even if you didn't vote for this option, I hope you still read and enjoy the story!**

"Come on! You call that a hit?!" Elijah yelled at the dragon, almost like a Drill sergeant would but with a little more compassion in his voice.

"I'm trying!" said the young, red dragon, who was currently trying for the fifth time to take Elijah down.

Elijah swept his leg out once, and tripped the young dragon. He fell in a crumpled mess on the forest floor with a grunt. Elijah sighed, disappointed. This was the 2nd week of training, and no improvement.

"Where is the dragon that I saw fighting in the village? I know you can fight, but your holding yourself back."

"I'm trying, but I can't! I don't know why! And why am I learning this anyways? I'm a dragon, I'm supposed to be using me Element, not this 'Hand to Hand Combat'!"

"Well, I can't train you with your element because I don't have one. Plus, if you can beat the enemy at their own tactic, you'll always be able to combine it with another and make it even more devastating."

"What happens when we run into apes with bows instead of swords? When I can't use me Element for ranged attacks?" He asked defiantly.

Elijah decided to ignore his tone of voice, that way he could show off a bit. He smiled at Chandler, and said, "I'll show you what we will do." And walked over to his bag.

They didn't have a permanent shelter yet, but kept wandering the entire area, searching, for something they didn't quite know.

He walked back after pulling out a small piece of strangely shaped metal from his back pack. Chandler watched as he took another, smaller piece of metal, and fit it into the bottom of the other one with a click. He pulled on the top, and it moved backwards with another click before moving forward again.

Elijah showed Chandler the weapon, and said, "I understand this looks like absolutely nothing to you, but trust me, this is a very complicated, and very dangerous weapon."

These words confused Chandler, as he wondered why it was so complicated, and how it could actually do any damage. But, as he looked closer, he realized that it was very well crafted, with very precise cuts, groves, and holes. However, he still couldn't see how it was dangerous.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's a gun. More specifically, a Beretta 92SB-F. I got ahold of this when…" he paused, and his features saddened. However, only for a moment, and his face went back to normal, but was missing the happy part.

He finished the sentence, "When my friend passed away, he left me this in his will."

"What does it do?" Chandler asked, and Elijah nodded, and picked up a large, flat rock laying nearby. It was about 2 and a half feet in diameter, and a rough circle in shape. He set it up against a tree, and put about 30 feet of distance between.

"What was the point of that?" Chandler asked.

"It's a target." He said, before raising the gun, and firing it.

Chandler jumped, but actually managed to keep his composure. Now, Elijah walked back to the rock, and Chandler followed. He stared wide eyed at the rock, as he found it had shattered into 7 triangles, and many more small shards.

"Woah…" he whispered, and looked at Elijah with curiosity and… fear. Elijah saw fear in his eyes. It wasn't very much, but it was there.

"Is something wrong? Why do you look scared?" He asked inquisitively. Chandler opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped, and closed his mouth again. Elijah was patient, and waited until Chandler opened his mouth to speak again,

"Well, it's obviously powerful… what happens if-"

"The apes won't get it." Elijah interrupted, but Chandler continued, "Nothing that powerful can be controlled."

Elijah smiled. This annoyed Chandler, and he said, "I'm being serious! It obviously works on magic, and if something that small does that much damage, it's TOO powerful!"

Now Elijah was chuckling softly. Chandler awaited his response, looking more annoyed with every second.

"What if I told you that where I come from, this isn't actually a very big gun. In fact, this is about as small as it gets."

Chandler's eyes went wide.

"And it's actually not magic, it's a very complicated mechanical device." He said, then smiled at the fact that he now got to brag about his knowledge of this technology. He sat down on a rock and motioned for Chandler to sit in front of him.

And while he may not have known too much about other guns, he knew quite A LOT about this one.

He started with unloading the clip, "These are bullets. These specific bullets are called a 9x19, and the bullet is actually this little piece of metal at the tip. The rest is hollow, and filled with something called Gun Powder. When the gunpowder is ignited, it creates a small explosion, which forces the bullet out of the barrel. This gun is Semi Automatic, meaning, it fires every time I pull the trigger."

"What part is the trigger?" Chandler asked, and Elijah opened his mouth to reply.

Then he closed his mouth, and began looking at something above Chandler.

"Hello? Elijah?"

"Shh" was all he got.

"All I did was ask-"

"No, it's not you, look…" he said, pointing his finger. Chandler turned around, confused.

"Oh" was all he said, as he could see a single column of black smoke rising in the distance. Elijah went over to his bag, and pulled out 3 more small metal things, and put them in his pocket.

"I assume I have to stay here?" Chandler said in an unenthusiastic tone.

"No, your coming with me. There is only so far training can take you, experience is the real secret too fighting. Just stay close to me." He responded, and Chandler's blood began to pump at the thought of fighting again. Elijah asked,

"Are you nervous?" and Chandler nodded, silently. Elijah smiled, and said, "Good, that means your ready to fight."

 **Ok, I'm sorry this took so long to write, I've been VERY busy, with both work, school, and financial trouble. I'm not going to say anything about my financial trouble, that is quite personal, but as for school, I could care less who knows about that. I passed finals, but I'm only safe for a few more Months, as I soon have to take another set of finals, and SAT's.**

 **Other than that, I have a quick question before I go, and well… I've been listening to music again…. Yes, I've though of yet another idea. This story has already been set, but I'm thinking about the next one. So, my question is,**

 **What do you think about a Revolution based Story line?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright, I am still having problems, and I will not post often. These problems range from physical, to mental, to emotional, so I won't explain to much because there is no point.**

 **I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to get out, I had a slight motivational problem, but now I'm ready for writing! Well… Typing… however, just because I have the motivation doesn't necessarily mean I will have tons of time.**

 **Anyways, this chapter is also much longer, and I hope that they will stay this way.**

 **Enjoy!**

Elijah ran down a hill, only to climb up another. And while it wasn't difficult, it was time consuming.

And they didn't have a lot of time.

As he came to the top of the hill, he gazed out across a practical warzone. It seemed to have been a decent sized town before, with wooden houses, stone streets, gardens, and the like. But now, houses laid in ruins, gardens burned, and the streets ran with blood. He heard the sounds of fighting, and realized that among the bodies of the Dragons, Moles, and other unidentifiable creatures, there were plenty of Ape corpses.

"So these guys put up a fight." He mumbled, then turned to Chandler, the dragon he had spent the last few weeks with, both training and bonding, and said, "Stay close to me, we don't know how many apes are here, and your not trained to fight them. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt."

Chandler nodded, but was quiet. Elijah took that as a ready to go, and began making his way down the hill towards the village. His pistol at his hip, and his knife in hand, he ran into the town.

While his knife wasn't a sword, it was still a large knife. It was designed for combat, but so far, Elijah had not used it for combat. It had a 6 inch, titanium-alloy blade with a single, straight edge. The handle was simple, plain steel wrapped in leather for additional grip. Even if Elijah had never actually used this knife in combat, he had used others. And, unlike those he had fought with his knife previously, he could brag about his skills.

Because, in most cases, his opponents were dead.

He could hear Chandler's footsteps behind him, he turned and said, "I need you to fly up a little ways and find out where the fighting is going on, and try to count the number of Apes if you can."

He saw Chandler nod, but before he took off, Elijah added, "Don't go to high, we don't want them to spot you."

"I know." Chandler said, then took off. Elijah waited patiently for him to return. When Chandler landed again, Elijah looked at him expectantly.

"It looks like the survivors have somewhat of a fortress set up at the center of town, but there are more apes than defenders. They seem to have only crude swords or clubs, and only 3 Bows. The archers are on the roof of a house near the fight."

"Ok, we need to take them out first."

"You want me to do it?" He asked, but Elijah shook his head and said,

"No, you stay back and watch. Don't engage unless I tell you to."

"But I can f-"

"Yes, I know you can fight, but not well enough. Trust me, you will be able to fight them soon. For today, let me handle this, you sit back and watch… and maybe try to learn something from it."

Chandler sighed, and said, "Fine."

Elijah nodded, more to himself than to Chandler, and walked over to the lowest building on the street. He jumped at the low hanging roof, and pulled himself up.

"What are you doing?"

"Climbing the building." He replied as he finished pulling himself up. He ran to the next building, which was a little higher, and repeated the process.

Now he was able to move roof to roof, moving quickly in the direction Chandler had previously pointed out. He didn't go far before he saw three ape heads on the next roof. It was lower than the one he was on, and silently jumped down, ignoring the fight going on down below.

One ape turned around, and spotted him. It had a confused look at first, but it quickly turned to surprise when Elijah jabbed his knife through its throat. A small gurgle was heard, but only to Elijah's ears.

He quickly moved to the next one, and grabbed it by the shoulders. He kicked the back of the third ape's knees, making it collapse on the roof with a thud. He then brought his knife to the throat of the one he held, and left a large gash in its trachea.

Releasing the suffocating ape, and in one quick movement, he spun on one foot, crouched down to one knee, and brought the knife down on its mouth. He crudely pulled the knife out, and wiped the blood on the ape's corpse.

It was brutal and bloody, but it was quiet.

Now, kneeling, he peered out across the street, where the battle was taking place. The townspeople had made a barricade in a large, stone building.

While it may not have been the largest building in the town, it was the only one made of stone. It was fairly long house, about 40 feet, and 30 feet wide. And, as far as Elijah could tell, it had 2 floors.

The door had a small wall of debris such as tables and chairs stacked about 12 feet high, and the Windows were covered from the inside using a similar tactic. A number of bodies laid atop the small wall, all of them with arrows buried deep in their chests. One cheetah stood alone atop the wall.

And he was looking right at Elijah.

Just staring at him.

Elijah stared back for about 15 seconds before the creature broke eye contact to keep fighting. Elijah turned around, looking for Chandler. He jumped slightly when he was surprised by Chandler, who was standing right behind him.

"Ok, stay here and watch, this will be a learning moment for you. I want you to pay attention to how they react, how they fight, and how I counter them. Got it?" He asked, and Chandler nodded hastily.

Elijah turned back around, and glanced quickly at the Cheetah, who was using a spear to prod any apes that tried to climb up. He jumped down off the roof, and walked over to the group of apes, who all had their attention on the Barrier.

However, as he approached, one of them seemed to have noticed that the archers stopped firing, and turned around while yelling, "Why did you stop shooting? Someone take-" but was cut off by Elijah's knife. The other apes turned now, having heard the ape get cut off.

They snarled as they saw him holding his blood covered knife, standing next to their fallen comrade. Elijah counted about 7 Apes in total, and, just as Chandler had told him, had nothing better than crude swords and clubs. They didn't stand a chance against his well maintained, sharpened knife, even if it was a fraction of the size.

They began to circle him, but Elijah didn't give them enough time. He darted forward, and slid his knife through the gut of an ape, then saw movement to his left and forward right. He found that they had reacted a bit faster than he expected, but even then, a little to fast.

The ape to his front right was close, but slow, and wielded a club, while the one to his left was preparing to lunge at him with its sword. The one with the club was in the middle of a powerful, overhand stroke aimed at Elijah's head, but it was a very slow stroke. Elijah sidestepped the club, and wrapped his left arm around the ape and brought the ape to his left side.

Elijah felt the ape's body go rigid, as a sword went through it. Elijah dropped the dead ape, and spun with his right arm extended, until he found his knife buried in the side of the ape's skull. He ripped it out, and turned to fight, but immediately had to block a sword stroke aimed at his throat.

He ducked to avoid another attack, this time from a club. He began to back up a little, and the remaining attackers took that as a sign to advance on him.

Last mistake.

The nearest ape took a step towards him, but Elijah surprised him by suddenly reversing his backwards movement into a forward charge. With one loud yell, he tackled the ape before it had a chance to bring his weapon up. The moment they were on the ground, Elijah stabbed it twice, and was on his feet in a flash.

The ape was already mid swing with its sword when Elijah saw it, but again, it was a very slow attack. Elijah brought his left hand up, and caught the ape by the wrist. The ape looked surprised, but after a split second, he saw the ape smile at him.

Elijah knew what that meant.

He pivoted to the left, maintaining his grip on the ape's left arm, and struck out with his knife. He felt it tear through flesh, as it cut diagonally from the ape's lower chest, to the ape's upper left shoulder. It dropped the sword it held, and as it fell, Elijah quickly grabbed at it.

And missed.

He lost his balance, and fell forward, releasing the ape he held. He hit the ground, and reacted as fast as he could, as did the now free ape. It jumped at him, and tried to pin him down. Elijah rolled out, and kicked the ape in The knee, very hard.

He heard bones snap, and watched the ape's leg bend backwards with a yell escaping The ape. Elijah grabbed his knife, which fell about two feet away, and stabbed The ape's other knee. The ape fell to the ground, where Elijah stabbed it again. He stood, and looked around.

The two remaining apes, including the one with a large gash on its chest, looked at him hesitantly for a few moments, then turned and ran.

Elijah relaxed, and let out the tense breath he had been holding in. He put his hand on his knees, and bent slightly, breathing heavily.

"I might be getting to old for that." He joked quietly, but he knew it wasn't true. If anything, he was in peak condition, at the age of 23, and with a high metabolism, he was in great condition. He was tired right now, not because of the physical strain, but the Mental one.

This put a mental strain in him for a good many reasons, but the biggest was the uncertainty of if the surviving townspeople would trust him. He knew there was only one way to find out, and that was the problem, he didn't know what the outcome would be, and there was no way he could figure out until it had already happened.

"That was awesome!" Called a young voice, tearing him from his thoughts. He looked up, thinking it was the Cheetah on the Barricade, but the Cheetah was no longer there. He looked around, and saw Chandler still standing on the rooftop. Elijah motioned for him to come down to him, and the young dragon jumped off the roof, and ran towards him.

As he approached, Elijah stood up straight again, and Chandler asked, "What do we do now?"

"I think we should start with knocking." He said simply, and walked up to the barricade of tables, chairs, and other assorted furniture. He used his hand, and hit a wooden table a few times, then waited.

After a minute, he knocked again, and called, "We don't mean any harm, I would like to talk with you."

Still no response, so he said once more, "Please? I just want to ta-" but was cut off when a rope hit him on the head. Surprised, Elijah jumped back, and looked up to see a face appear. It was the Cheetah, and it- she, he corrected, because her voice was very high pitched and obviously female, said, "Climb on up" before disappearing again.

He looked at Chandler, who simply backed up and said, "I can fly." And then flapped his wings a few times to get over the barricade. Elijah sighed, and gripped the rope, and began to climb. When he made it to the top, he jumped down the other side, and found no one there, but the door was open.

The door was also very wide and tall.

He walked inside, and looked around the dark, empty room. No one was in here either, but there was some light that came into the room, and it came from a set of stairs at the back of the room. He walked across the room and found the stairs were also very wide, then walked up slowly.

As he neared the top, he looked around. The room was well lit, with a fire place on one wall. He could see a total of 5 creatures in the room, and to Elijah, it looked quite cramped inside. At the back of the room laid a large, light green dragon. Elijah wondered why this dragon wasn't out there fighting.

Next to the fire stood the Cheetah, Chandler, and two other, smaller dragons. One was a Red color, and was definitely a good deal older than Chandler, though not as old as the big green one. The other was a small green dragon. This one was older than Chandler, but not much older.

Honestly, Elijah had always been bad at guessing age.

As he stepped up the last few stairs, he caught the attention of the older dragon, who stood quickly and tried to move between Elijah and the other creatures. However, he stumbled and fell with a roar of pain. Only then did Elijah notice the dragon was wounded, and blood was everywhere on the floors and pooled beneath where the dragon laid.

The others, who hadn't noticed him yet, looked startled at the dragon's actions. Elijah waited patiently for them to see him. The red dragon was the first to see him, and went into a defensive stance and snarled at him. The Cheetah then saw him, and grabbed for the sword that laid against the wall, then joined the red dragon in a defensive stance, keeping herself between Elijah and everyone else.

Elijah heard Chandler's scared and panicking voice call, "Elijah? What do I do? I don't kn-" but Elijah replied in a calm and soothing voice, "Chandler, relax. Remember how I said that if we ran into trouble with dragons that I would handle it? Because I promise you, I will handle this."

"Uh, there is a Ch-"

"Yes, I know, don't worry about it."

He pulled his knife out of his sheath very slowly, and dropped it to the ground. However, his pistol stayed at his hip because he figured they wouldn't know it was a weapon anyways. They didn't look any more relaxed.

Keeping his hand up, he walked forward slowly, until he was in the firelight, then the Red Dragon said in a very hostile, feminine voice, "That's far enough." And he stopped walking. He said nothing, assuming they would want to ask the questions first. He noticed the Cheetah had grown less aggressive, but both Dragons remained entirely hostile. When they didn't say anything, Elijah took the chance, and aimed his statement at the Cheetah, "Your pretty good with weapons, you train with anything?"

She looked surprised, and Elijah smiled and laughed lightly before saying in an amused tone, "What? Did you expect me to start by asking your name?"

Her silence answered his question, so he continued, this time looking at all of them, "You know as well as I that those apes are going to come back here with backup. We don't have time for names right now, what I need to know is, can you fight?"

He couldn't describe their expressions after he said that, but if he had to point out anything, it was the fact that he not only saw the realization on their faces, but also a little fear.

"I can fight." The Cheetah said, then the Young Red Dragoness spoke up as well, "I can fight with as much ferocity as any dragon."

The adult dragon attempted to stand, but fell down, drawing the attention of the Red Dragoness.

"No, you stay here, your injured and we can't get you any Healing Crystals right now. Maybe after this we will find some."

Meanwhile, Chandler was talking to Elijah who said, "Elijah, these people are even worse at fighting than I am! They can't fight off apes, the only reason they are alive is because of Drake."

Elijah assumed Drake was the larger injured dragon, but that didn't matter, because now plans had to change. He began thinking, and he became so lost in his thinking that he didn't notice that all eyes were on him. He stood there, completely oblivious to the fact that they were all staring at him, and began pacing the room and mumbling to himself.

The dragoness whispered to Chandler, "What is he doing?"

"I'm not sure… I've seen him do something similar to this, and I'm pretty sure he thinking, but I've never seen him get this lost in thought." He replied, and the Dragoness turned back to watching Elijah, but with a curious stare.

It was like this for some 5 minutes before Elijah finally did something. However, it was not a promising reaction he had, as he let loose a frustrated yell, and he hit the wall with both fists. His observers flinched at the sudden, violent action, and they even got ready to attack. However, they felt a little bad when he didn't move from the wall, but put his head against it and let loose a frustrated sigh and unclenched his fists.

Only then did he turn around and look at them.

Chandler saw fear in his eyes.

And so did everyone else.

"El-Elijah? What are we going to do?" Chandler asked in a fearful voice, and approached Elijah slowly. Elijah looked at the small Dragon, and realized he was scarring him. Elijah immediately forced every ounce of fear from his features, and put on a broad, confident smile, and then said, "Don't worry, I've got a plan. I've always got a plan. Now, what I need you to do, is go get that dragon," He pointed to the dragon that was slightly older than him, "And get him ready. Do all your stretches, just like I taught you."

Chandler may not have been a hatching, but he wasn't an adult either. He fell for Elijah's trick, and walked over to the other dragon.

He now abandoned the confident look as he walked over to the adult dragons and Cheetah, but was slightly surprised to find that his fearful feelings did not replace it this time.

Hope did.

"Do you have a plan?" Asked Drake.

"We only have one option. We have to leave. None of you can fight, and we won't stand a chance, so… we run."

"Drake is in no condition to move, let alone run!" Said the Cheetah.

"I know, but we don't have a choice. You'll have to help him along the path, carry him if you have too."

"None of us are strong enough to carry him! He's twice my weight!" The dragoness said, and Elijah replied calmly, "How about the Three of you?" He said, motioning slightly towards the other two dragons, who were talking on the other side of the room.

"Well, maybe?" She said, still uncertain.

"Trust me, Chandler is stronger than you think." He said, then added, "But either way, you do this, or you leave him." He said, but knew what the answer was.

"We are NOT leaving ANYONE behind!" She yelled, catching the attention of the two younger dragons. Elijah couldn't help but smile slightly as he said, "I know you aren't, so get him ready to move, those apes could be back anytime."

Now the Cheetah spoke up, and with a worried and confused tone, she said, "Wait, why do you keep saying 'You'?"

Now Elijah's smile faded, and he looked around to make sure Chandler wasn't nearby. After seeing him still on the other side of the room, still talking to the other dragon, he said quietly, "You know what I mean by that, you won't get away if some one doesn't delay them. Especially with you carrying him."

"What? I literally just told you that NO ONE gets left behind." The Cheetah said, but Elijah shook his head and said, "Plans change. Just like my plans changed when THIS happened." As he said that, he glanced over at Chandler. She noticed his glance, and sighed sadly before saying, "I'll do my best to take care of him."

Elijah nodded, and said, "When you tell him of this, he will try to come back here. Do not let him. He's not very old, but he's strong and good at fighting, so don't underestimate him."

"I understand." She said slowly, then added, "Can you tell me your name?"

"My name is Elijah." He said simply. It was quiet for a few moments, and Elijah looked at the other two, who had been almost entirely silent. The Young Red dragoness then spoke up, asking, "How long can you give us?"

Elijah thought about it a moment, but the Cheetah replied before he could, "I saw him fighting, I'd say plenty."

Elijah took one last opportunity to show off, and he pulled his Pistol out of its holster.

"What's that?" She asked.

"This is the reason you will have plenty of time to get out of here. It's a gun. It fires a very small object at a very high speed."

"It doesn't look very effective."

"Trust me, it is." He said, not wanting to give an example because he would need every one of the few bullets he had. Thankfully they didn't pursue the topic, but instead, the Cheetah went over to the two younger dragons, and was probably explaining the plan to them. The red Dragoness was talking to the larger Green Dragon, so Elijah decided to just sit back and wait.

The moment he was relaxed against the wall, a small body tackled him to the ground.

"No! Elijah, don't do this! Please come with us!" cried Chandler, who was now standing on his chest. Elijah could feel his ribs bending under the immense weight of the dragon, and pushed him off. He sat up and breathed deeply. Chandler ignored his condition and continued talking,

"They'll kill you if you stay here!"

"Well, if you sit on me again they won't have to worry about me, you'll have killed me!" He joked, but when he looked at Chandler, he had a very unamused expression. Elijah sighed, and said, "I'm sorry, but I have too."

"No you don't! We can go fast enough, we can get away!"

"Yes, you are fast enough, and you will get away… but I won't be with you."

Chandler opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a horn in the distance. All of them, except Drake of course, were on their feet in an instant.

"Time for you to go." Elijah said, and walked down the stairs. As he climbed the small barricade, he heard noises from inside, and a few grunts. After a moment, they all emerged, and Elijah watched from the roof of a building across the street, wondering how they would get the dragon over it.

"Maybe they aren't going over it…" He mumbled to himself, and two seconds later, a boulder crashed into the barrier of wooden items, smashing it with ease. As they walked out of the door way, the Cheetah spotted Elijah, and jogged over to him.

"So, which direction do we go?"

"Best if I don't know." Elijah replied, confusing the Cheetah.

"Why is that? What if you survive?"

"Yes, what if they don't kill me, but capture me?" He countered, and saw a brutal awakening in her eyes. She still hadn't realized exactly what was going on. She probably thought that he would come out of this perfectly fine, just like a Hero would. But Elijah wasn't a Hero. Yes, he was good at fighting, but he was still only Human.

It would be a miracle if he made it out of this alive… and an act of God to get him out of this unharmed.

The Cheetah turned and began walking away, but stopped a few feet away and said, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"All of this. Your giving your life for a group of people you don't know. You're a good… what ever you are…"

"Your right, I don't know you. What's your name? I should at least know the name of the creature I'm giving my life for…"

"Oh, my name is Aleah, and the Red Dragoness is Gloria, that's Drake, and his son, Ron."

Elijah could here battle cries in the distance. Time was running out.

"It was a pleasure to meet you all, and I'm sure your all good people." He paused a moment, then said with a smile, "There are worse ways of dying, and doing so for a rag-tag group of survivors and a child honestly isn't the ideal way, but it'll do for me."

She smiled at him, and saw the look in her eyes, and froze. The last time he saw that look was years ago. She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off, "You need to go before it's too late."

She seemed to snap back to attention at that, as Elijah realized that he didn't even notice the way she was so focused on him.

"Oh, right. Well, thank you, Elijah." She said sadly, and turned to follow the others, who were already half way down the street. Elijah watched them near the corner, and just before they turned it, he locked eyes with Chandler. Elijah smiled at him and nodded reassuringly, and turned away as they disappeared around the corner.

Elijah turned back to face the waves of apes he was sure to face.

They seemed to be content with taking their time in getting there, as almost 10 minutes later, he found himself still sitting there. He couldn't stop thinking of Chandler, Gloria, Aleah, Drake, and Ron. Every time he thought of the fight ahead, it brought his thoughts back to them. This happened 6 times before he could finally see the approaching apes.

"Holy shit…" he whispered slowly, as what he saw was not what he was expecting.

There were nearly 35 Apes by what he could see, and all of them were well armed.

He sighed once, and mumbled, "I hope they get away in time." And then ran off to execute his plan…

 **There is Chapter 2 for ya! I hope you enjoyed, and I should have chapter 3 out soon!**

 **Oh, and just in case, Aleah's name is pronounced alee-ah. Oh, and I'm sorry, but for some reason, while I was going through and editing this, my phone began autocorrecting "the" to "The" with a capital, and if your like me, that bothers you. But, it got really annoying to go back and correct it, so I just stopped.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, I'm not entirely sure what they meant, but the first response I got to chapter 2 was something about a soldier? I don't really know for sure, but I'm thinking I'll be a bit vague on Elijah's background with a few hints… FOR NOW! Right now I would like to get the fighting scenes and the bonding scenes done, because, obviously, our characters won't be able to travel and fight together without getting to know each other… right?**

 **OF COURSE IT'S RIGHT!**

 **This chapter will start off following Chandler and the others, but will go to Elijah soon, and I'll tell you when.**

They walked as fast as they could down the path, but they all knew they would tire eventually. Except Chandler. He was the only one with the amount of determination to walk until he dropped dead. Unknown to the rest, Chandler was leading them in a specific direction for a reason.

He'd noticed a very prominent, and very tall hill behind the town. It was covered in trees and plenty of bushes, so they could use those to hide in.

Chandler was determined to watch Elijah fight. He had to know what happened to Elijah, death, or otherwise. As they began climbing the hill, he'd found that the back of the hill was less steep than the front.

Within a few minutes, they'd reached the top, and Gloria called for a rest. But Chandler recommended going just a little further, and they agreed. The moment they broke the tree line, Gloria gasped at the sight of the town.

"Why are we here? You led us here, didn't you?" Aleah said to Chandler in a slightly angry voice.

"Yes, I did."

"We need to get away from here! We don't have a lot of time!" she said impatiently, and tried to pull Chandler back. He pushed her away and said, "I have to see this! I have to know what happens to him! You can go, I'll catch up afterwards."

But Aleah stepped up and said, "Actually, I would also like to see this, and…. I think we should all watch this."

They were quiet for a moment, but didn't move.

Then, a very loud noise caught their attention, and drew it towards the town, where they searched for Elijah…

30 minutes earlier

Elijah could see the archers in the back, and knew he would have to take them down first. He had a quickly thought up plan that relied on either the archers staying in the back of the groups he knew would form, or them taking to the rooftops like they had previously. Unfortunately, they used a different tactic.

One large group stayed outside the town, which consisted of most of the archers, while 3 smaller groups moved into the town. These 3 groups consisted of 5 total, including 1 archer.

Elijah knew what their tactic here was. They were to search the town, and if one group found the targets, they were to yell and get the attention of the rest.

Fortunately, he also knew how to beat this, it would just be much more difficult with one person.

Nearly impossible, actually.

But, impossible didn't scare him anymore. Everything that had happened to him in his time here had been impossible, from the moment he woke up, until now. Just because he was being faced with some impossible odds again wasn't a reason for him to be scared of them.

The unfortunate truth about that is you don't have to be scared of something for it to kill you.

He moved quietly across the building he was on, having noticed that the 3 teams used the streets to move into town. He stayed low, knowing he could still be spotted by the group outside the town, and moved towards the first group, which was headed towards the house he was in before.

He could see the house now, but none of the apes. He frowned in confusion, but waited for them to show up. It was nearly 3 minutes before he gave up, and moved to search for them. He found no sign of them, however, when he looked around, trying to find the other two teams, he found them.

But no sign of team one.

He searched the town once more, keeping close attention on where the other two teams were, but still found nothing.

He didn't like the way they practically disappeared, but shrugged it off and moved to attack the other two groups. He moved to find the closest group, but found 10 Apes there and not 5. At first, he thought this meant he found group one, but then realized that groups two and three had just met up and were talking.

"There's no sign of any of the survivors."

"They probably ran away."

"Damned Cowards!"

"Weaklings!"

"Lets chase after them!"

"YEAH!" They all chorused, and began to run. They all jumped and stopped running at the sound of a very loud bang.

They looked around, searching for the source. One ape pointed at a rooftop, and when the others turned around, they saw a single, ape like creature standing on the roof. They were silent, as Elijah jumped off the low building with a roll, and stopped 25 feet away, and said, "Shall we begin?"

"Wait, begin fighting? Aren't you an Ape, just like us… well, similar to us anyways?"

But a voice from the back called, "No! I recognize him! That's the one that attacked us!"

An ape with a large bandage that stretched from his lower right chest to his upper left shoulder, and an enraged expression stepped forward.

"That could have been a misunderstanding…" the ape suggested, but the ape yelled, "No! Not possible! I watched him enter the House of the survivors, he wanted to help them!"

Elijah realized his opportunity, and cut in with an angry voice, "No, I went in there and killed them!"

"What of the small Dragon you were with?" the ape said accusingly.

"Another survivor that escaped and came to me thinking I could help his friends." Elijah replied calmly.

"Then why not help us? Why did you attack? We're on the same side." Asked the other, and obviously more reasonable of the two, but Elijah shook his head and said, "I'm not on your side. I'm on my own side, I fight anything and everything. I tore those stupid dragons to pieces, limb by limb, and burned their sorry corpses! And as for the Cheetah… let's say I have a new coat. But, none of this matters, as you'll all be dead soon."

Elijah watched as they all tightened their grips on their swords and bows, and one blew a small horn. The apes moved to surround him, the same tactic as the previous group, and just like last time, he shot forwards, not letting them.

This time, however, he put a little more confusion into his attack.

He ran for the ape furthest to the right, and downed it immediately with a quick slash to its throat. He left the ape to choke on its own blood, and ran behind the group. The others didn't realize his tactic until the two archers were already dead. He had ran behind them to get the archers first, and now they had a more even fight.

But, not for long.

Both the apes and Elijah knew what the Horn symbolized.

The 7 apes were now surrounding him, and striking at him one by one, and each one was blocked. Elijah waited until they grew confident before he began attacking. After a few more attacks, Elijah noticed they became more bold in these strikes, and most had confident looks.

The next one was a stab with a sword, aimed at his gut. Elijah sidestepped slightly, and caught the blade between his side, and his left arm. He grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled the ape towards him, and brought his right hand, which held the knife, into the ape's gut. He pushed the ape away, withdrawing his knife, and looked around quickly.

He noticed a lot of movement behind him, and jumped left with a roll, and, just like he assumed, the attacker adjusted his attack to the left to follow him. The attack had less force now, and Elijah blocked it with his knife, catching the other blade. He saw movement to his right, so he brought his left hand up in an uppercut on the current ape's jaw, sending it reeling backwards, and shifted his weight to turn to the right.

As he turned, he realized there was more than one ape on his right. The three apes charging him were close together, and had their swords high. Elijah kept low, and quickly charged back at them and hit the middle one with his shoulder, but kept his own balance by using the ape's body to replace his own force.

Newton's First Law… he thought to himself, then quickly sent his right arm out in an arc to catch the one ape on the back of the head with the hilt of his knife. After he felt the connection, he quickly reversed the movement, and brought it forward, across to the left, where the ape hadn't quite reacted fast enough. The blade slipped into the back of the ape's neck, and it fell dead.

He heard footsteps behind him, and a lot of them. He turned around, and his heart fell when he realized something.

That horn didn't just call for the remaining 17 Apes outside town, but for further reinforcements. He now saw at least 3 Dozen apes running towards him.

He pulled out his Beretta now, and fired 8 times, dropping the 8 Ape archers. At the sound, the battle momentarily stopped, as the remaining apes reconsidered their attack. But, after a moment, they decided they would win with numbers on their side, and began engaging him.

Either they thought of this as a challenge, or they just fought this way, but they completely surrounded him but then engaged alone or in pairs, but it was non-stop, one after the other.

The first one came from his left. He sliced at its wrist, forcing it to drop its sword, then with a quick spin, he hit the ape on the head with the but of his knife.

Movement to his right and footsteps behind him. He whipped around and kicked his leg out, connecting with the sword aimed at his stomach, and pushing it to the right and down. The sword landed in the other attacking ape's thigh, and it went down with a cry. Before he could finish the now unarmed ape, more movement to his left front, and this ape had a spear.

Terrible choice of weapon.

He kicked it upwards and rushed forward. He grabbed the spear with his left, and spun around to hit the ape with his right Elbow. The elbow connected, and the ape staggered back, releasing the spear. Elijah quickly raised the spear and threw it at the previously engaged ape, piercing its chest.

While the ape fell, he turned to the newly unarmed ape and dispatched it with a quick stab to the chest. He turned around, and saw the next ape coming towards him.

He ran at the ape with an enraged yell, and tackled the ape. He rolled off immediately and stood, not yet killing the ape, but stabbed the thigh of the ape on his right, which had just approached. As he tore his knife out, he went to a kneeling stance as he spun in a 180 degree arc while a sword swiped just above his head. As the sword passed over his head, it sliced open the stomach of another ape behind him. Before it passed over him completely, he jabbed upwards with his knife, catching the ape's arm. The sword fell from its grip, and Elijah grasped it with his left.

He pushed up with his leg while turning to the right, and moved the sword to slice the ape he tackled earlier and had just stood up. The ape fell with a scream, and Elijah spun quickly back to the right, were the injured ape was holding its bleeding arm, and sliced at its neck.

The ape fell to its knees, and as it fell, Elijah noticed another ape behind it, but it was at a further distance, so he didn't think about it.

That is, until his vision focused on the ape momentarily. He was only able to look at the ape for a split second before an arrow slammed into the lower part of his right shoulder.

He gasped in pain, and one of his hands went to the arrow. He fell to one knee, but remained there and did not fall further. He refused to fall to his knees before these monsters. He drew his pistol as fast as he could, and aimed with his left hand, and fired once, missing the ape. He fired again, and hit it in the arm, so he fired again, hitting it in the chest.

The ape fell, and Elijah rose to his feet, and broke the arrow shaft at the point where it met flesh. He threw it aside, and glared at the apes that still surrounded him. More than one ape now looked at him with fear, and some looked at him with rage, and a few even looked at him with just a very little amount of respect.

One stepped forward and said, "You fight well, I don't doubt that your really do kill everything you find. But, you have to see that your going to loose this fight. I'm feeling generous today, so I'll give you one last chance, give up now, and you will live to fight another day."

"What's the point of fighting another day, if I don't fight today? If I give up, I will have reached my limit. And I'd rather die than know my limit." He said, but he didn't really mean most of it. He just needed to keep them distracted a while longer, even if that meant fighting to the death.

The ape shrugged, and said, "Ok, fine. Kill him."

 **Now I'm really going to pick up the pace, and won't go into much detail about exactly when an Ape shows up, only where it is in Position to Elijah when he kills it. You might need to use your Imagination just a bit.**

The apes went back to their earlier tactic, but with the way they increased the rate of their attack, it seemed like an almost constant barrage.

Forgetting the pain, he sliced quickly to his right, catching an Ape on the chest, then, on his left side, he used his left hand to redirect an overhead swing to the side and landed a punch on its face with his right hand. As the ape staggered backwards, Elijah grabbed the sword from its hand with his left, and spun around, putting the sword up to block another strike, then stabbed the ape with the knife in his right hand.

He quickly turned back around and stabbed the other ape with the sword, and quickly pulled it back out. He threw the sword, similar to the way you would a knife, but created momentum by hurling it after moving it in an arc above and to the left of his head. He didn't wait to see if it struck its target, but rolled to the right. He came out of the roll with his knife above his head and held it with both hands.

He felt the weak reaction of the clearly surprised ape hit his knife and the sword slide off the top. As the pressure released from it, Elijah pushed it upwards and twisted it to point forward, right into the ape's lower jaw.

Then, he felt a burning pain on his leg, and looked around to find that another ape had sliced the back of his left leg, and pretty badly. That pain made him realize something, that wasn't the first time they had caught a hit on him.

He had cuts everywhere. His cloths were soaked in blood and cut all over, and his head was pounding. Aside from the headache, his hair was soaked in blood, and it flowed down and covered his face. His shoulder was physically killing him, as blood was pouring out of it, and now his leg was bleeding profusely, and hurt almost as much as his shoulder.

He turned and stabbed the ape once in the chest, and removed the knife slowly. As another ape approached him, Elijah could barely find the energy to think of a way to kill it. In fact, he could barely stand. He tried to take a step towards the ape, but fell to one knee. The ape stopped, and looked to the one that spoke earlier. They said something, but Elijah couldn't hear it. The ape stepped backwards, and a different ape approached.

It talked to him, but Elijah couldn't hear what it said. Then, one phrase was audible to him: "On your knees"

At that, he remembered his statement earlier, that he wouldn't die on his knees. Determination filled him with a new, even if temporary, energy. He shot to his feet with cry of rage, knife in hand, and stabbed the ape in the stomach. His eyes momentarily cleared, and he did not recognize this ape. This was not the one that talked to him earlier, offered him mercy.

It didn't matter, as he now fell backwards and landed with a thud. His senses dulled, all except his hearing and eyesight, which cleared now. Above him, he saw the ape that talked to him earlier, and the ape said,

"You're a great warrior, you fought well. I have respect for that, my only regret being that you died fighting for yourself, and not for others."

Elijah knew in his mind that wasn't true, he did die for others, but he didn't dare say that.

Now the ape raised his sword, and with an evil smile, he said, "Good bye."

Then, an arrow slammed into the ape's chest, sending him flying outside of Elijah's line of sight. But Elijah didn't care, his mind was to numb to ask anything beyond, what?

He saw another creature enter his vision, but that was moments before his vision cut out, as did all his other senses.

His last thoughts were of the creatures he did this for.

Then, his mind finally followed suit of his other senses, and then nothing remained.

 **I mistakenly continued to call the town a city in the story, but it's not a city, so I tried to go though and fix them all, but I may have missed a few…**

 **Also, I know the end of this chapter seemed a bit fast, but that's only because you read it quickly! I made the same mistake, so if you think the same thing, try going back and reading a little slower.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright, I guess that was kind of a false alarm, I am still writing. Unfortunately, that means I kind of ruined a very important chapter.**

 **Well, even if you feel like it was ruined, I encourage you to re-read this, as I have added, changed, and removed lots, including spelling and Grammar. Plus, I've nearly doubled the size of the chapter! And by the time you've read this, I've already started the next chapter, and it'll be a good one!**

 **On one last note, I have to apologize for the amount of time it takes to post chapters, as it is increasingly difficult to find time.**

Chandler saw him go down once, with an arrow. He and the others gasped as it hit him, and got ready to leave, thinking he was dead. But then they watched him get back up, and take down the ape with his gun, and break the arrow. They watched him fight with even more ferocity than before.

Then he got hit pretty bad on the leg. Then, they watched him fall again. As an Ape approached him, he gave one last attempt and killed the ape. He fell backwards, defeated.

Chandler heard Gloria sigh, and begin walking away. They all knew it was over, and that it was time to go. Chandler walked away slowly, and turned away just as the ape raised his sword. He walked back into the bushes and did not look back.

As he emerged on the other side, he saw the others waiting for him, everyone with sad looks. They picked up Drake, and began walking.

It was almost entirely silent, the only sound to be heard was the sound of their footsteps.

Finally, Aleah spoke, and said to Chandler, "I'm sorry."

He didn't reply, and kept walking. She sighed but did not pursue the topic any further, and the group fell into silence again. It continued like this for the entire rest of the day, until Gloria decided every one should stop for the night. And even then, no one said anything. They didn't even eat. They all just went to sleep.

They woke in the morning, and Gloria did some hunting. When she came back, they quickly cooked the fresh meat, and were on the road again.

It went on like this for nearly 3 days. Their moods slowly grew with their appetites, and talking was becoming more frequent.

Then another 3 days, with the same increase. But they never did forget him. And they each knew they never would.

Then, on that seventh day, one week after Elijah died, they were discovered.

They had just gotten up from their breakfast, and had walked about 30 feet. Drake no longer had to be carried, as they had found some Healing Crystals a few days earlier, so they were making good progress.

Chandler's mood had improved very little, and he sought revenge.

Aleah opened her mouth to speak, but paused at a sound, and changed what ever she planned to say before, to a quiet but commanding tone, "Stop"

They all froze and looked around, but said nothing. After a minute, Aleah asked, "Can you guys smell that?"

They all sniffed the air quickly, but every one said no, but Drake added to his, "Why? What is it you smell?"

"Well, I thought I smelt other Cheetahs, but it's probably just me I can smell."

"Hmm, well, don't forget about it completely, you might be right. If it gets stronger, say something." He replied, and she nodded her answer.

As they walked, Aleah's nose would twitch every so often, but she didn't say anything. Her nose twitched more and more as they went, but she still said nothing. Then, about two hours after that first scent, her face contorted in confusion.

Drake, who had just finished laughing at a joke Gloria said, looked at her concerned, and asked equally so, "What's wrong? Did it get stronger?"

"Yes, much stronger, but it was so sudden. I think there might be some other Cheetah's nearby, bu-" but she was cut off by Gloria, who said, "Then we need to get their attention! They can help us!" And she opened her mouth to yell, but was quickly silenced by Drake, who clasped her mouth shut with his paws and said,

"They can probably smell us, they know we're here! But if you were listening," he released her mouth and turned back to Aleah, "She was in the middle of saying, 'but', so, continue."

She nodded with a smile, but then her face turned very serious.

"Right now, it's not just Cheetahs I'm smelling. I don't know what it is yet, but now it's just about as faint as the Cheetah smell was to begin with."

"Meaning… what?" Ron asked in a fairly young, and confused, voice.

"Well, either this other thing is far off, or there is just one among a larger number of Cheetahs." She replied, and he nodded, but said nothing more, leaving the thinking to the adults.

"Well, what should we do? Should we wait for them to find us? Or do we find them?" Gloria asked, and got a simple reply of, "We find them."

With their minds made up, they set off following Aleah, through the trees now, to find the Cheetahs.

"So, how close are we?" Drake asked, but when Aleah turned around, he saw only confusion on her face, and she said, "The smell is gone!"

"What do you mean it's gone?" Drake asked, and she replied, "I mean it's gone! I can't smell it anymore!"

It was quiet for a moment, then Drake said hesitantly, "Wait, think about it, you're the only one who could smell it, but shouldn't we have been able to smell it too? I mean, Dragons are supposed to have better smell…."

"Well… I don't kn- wait! Are you saying what I think your saying?!"

Drake tried to calm her down, saying, "Now, calm down, it's a very real possib-"

But she didn't listen, and started yelling, "No, I know what I smelt! I'm not delusional!"

"I'm not saying you are! We all make mistakes, and maybe this was just another of those mistakes." Drake said, but did not help to calm her down, so Gloria cut in, saying, "Aleah, just think about it for a minute…"

Aleah stopped yelling, and actually thought for a second. Soon, she sighed, and said in a disappointed and sad tone, "Ok, fine. One of you can lead fro-" but she paused, and sniffed once. Almost out of reflex, the others sniffed too, and everyone's eyes went wide.

"I knew it! I did smell something!" Aleah said happily, pointing at them. They looked at her, both a little ashamed, and Drake said, "I won't doubt you again."

But Gloria was looking around frantically, but after a moment, she stopped and said, "Well, I think we should all doubt our own PARENTING SKILLS!"

They looked at her confused a moment, but realization dawned apon them, and they too, began searching frantically for Chandler and Ron, who had disappeared.

"Aright, let's split up and search for them." Gloria suggested, and they all did so.

Aleah was running through the trees when she ran into Gloria with a thud. When she got back up, she called, "Hey, Drake, we should meet up again! Otherwise we're just chasing each others footsteps."

But he did not come back. They began searching for him, but did not find him. Aleah turned around to find Gloria gone. Now she was getting scared, and drew her sword, which had been unused so far.

However, just because it was unused, doesn't mean she wasn't willing to use it.

She heard footsteps to her right, and she whipped around, she saw another Cheetah. It held a bow, but it was not drawn, so she stopped pointing the sword at it.

"I knew I smelt more of me!" she said triumphantly, but then her face turned to anger and suspicion, and she pointed the sword at the Cheetah again and said, "Where are my friends? Did you do something to them?"

"Yes, we did do something, but they're still alive if that's what you mean." The Cheetah replied in a strong, Masculine voice.

"Take me to them, Now!" she demanded, and he began walking away, so she followed.

"So what exactly did you do to them?" She asked, and he replied with a calm tone, "Well, for the two younger ones, we simply grabbed them, as for the two older dragons, we drugged them with a special plant and made them sleep."

"Why would you do that? Dragons are our allies and good friends."

"Yes, I know this. Two of my best friends are dragons."

"Then why do all this?" She pressed.

"Well, we've been getting reports of dragons raiding the settlements, or just selling them out to the apes."

"Wait, dragons… and apes… working together?"

"I know, it's a crazy thought, but… yes. It's not very many dragons, very few actually, and there have been only 4 confirmed cases of this happening."

"That's not good at all…" she said, terrified at the thought.

"But, there is a good side to all this." He said with a smile.

She looked at him, confused, so he went on, "We've also seen cases of apes turning on apes."

"Really?" She asked in disbelief, and he replied with a slightly unimpressed tone, "Well… A case."

Her heart fell from the excitement it was building, but at his next words, a new feeling built up; Regret.

"We saw it 7 days ago, in a town the apes were destroying."

She stopped walking, and looked at him.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Was this ape Hairless across his body, with an exception of a little bit on his head?"

"Yes… do you know this ape?"

She hesitated, thinking about how to word her next statement.

"Well… none of my friends or I would be alive if not for him. We were in that Village when the apes came, but he showed up just as we were about to fall." She paused a moment, then looked away and said, "We watched him die from a hill behind town."

"What are you talking about?" Asked the Cheetah, confusing her. She looked back at him, and he said, "I don't know what you saw, but he's still alive."

The regret was immediately replaced by surprise and joy, and her voice very clearly portrayed this, "What?! He's alive?!"

"Yes."

"But… but how? We saw that ape raise his sword…." She let her voice trail, and the Cheetah replied,

"So did we, but you must have turned away at that moment, because it never fell."

She realized that she was so excited that she momentarily forgot about her friends, and asked,

"Wait, what about my friends, what happens to them?"

"Well, your trusted, and as long as you trust them, the small ones will be released the moment I say for them to be, and as for the other two, they'll be set free after they wake up."

"And when might that happen?" She asked, and he thought a moment before responding, "Well, probably about an hour for the smaller dragoness… and about 2 for the larger one."

"Ok, let's get going, I don't want Chandler and Ron to be scared for too long, and I'm sure Chandler would absolutely love to talk to Elijah."

They started walking again, and the Cheetah asked, "So the ape's name is Elijah?"

"He's not an Ape, he's a human. But, yes, his name is Elijah."

"And Chandler is…."

"The small red dragon." She replied

"Hmm, well, Chandler might have a bit of a problem talking to Elijah." He said, and worry began to creep back into Aleah's heart, and she asked, "What? Why would he have a problem with that?"

"Well… Elijah hasn't quite recovered from his wounds… and isn't actually awake yet." He replied, and saw the worry on her face and continued, "But he should be fine! He'll heal up and should wake here in a few weeks!"

"A few WEEKS?!" She yelled, and he replied, "Yes, a few weeks. His body doesn't use Healing Crystals like a dragon, just like you don't, and the body takes time to heal, especially so with his wounds."

She sighed, having been defeated by facts, and was quiet for a minute. Soon, the other Cheetah broke the silence, saying, "My name's Hunter, by the way."

"I'm Aleah." She replied. Neither said anything the rest of the walk.

When they finally reached the Cheetah village, it was practical chaos, with Cheetahs running multiple directions.

"What is going on here?" Hunter asked, confused and concerned at the same time. The Cheetah closest to him replied with a tone that sounded just as confused, "I'm not sure, but I think that one of the Dragons you brought back is resisting, and…. Oh, right! The ape woke up with a flurry of punches and barricaded himself inside the hospital."

"WHAT?!" Aleah yelled, but the Cheetah was already gone, so she turned to Hunter and said, "Take me to the Hospital."

But he shook his head and said, "First let's take care of your friends before they make themselves look bad, Elijah is barricaded in, so he's not going any where."

She reluctantly agreed, knowing it was true, and followed him. They came to a field just beside a few of the larger buildings in the village, and in the middle were 4 dragons.

And strangely enough, the only one of them that was calm, was the biggest one.

Drake sat there, calm, while Gloria thrashed around violently, as were Chandler and Ron, but they were smaller and less eye catching. Gloria, on the other hand, was a whirlwind of violence, spinning, kicking, biting at anything that came too close. Aleah ran up to her, and waved her arms, yelling, "Hey! Gloria! Stop, it's me!"

The red Dragoness stopped for a moment, and looked at her, confused.

"Aleah? What's going on? Why are we chained up?!"

"He will explain later, but right now, I just need you to calm down!"

"No! Not until I get a reason for this-" but she was cut off by Aleah, who yelled, "Gloria! Elijah is alive!"

She froze instantly.

"What?"

"Yes, he's alive, but I need you to calm down so we can go help him!" she yelled, and saw Gloria reluctantly relax a bit. Hunter nodded once, and a few others went forward and removed the restraints. When that was finished, Hunter motioned for them to follow, and said, "Right this way."

They ended up running over there, and when they reached the building, Aleah was surprised to find it was the only moderately permanent structure in the village. With a stone floor and thick wooden walls, it was 30 feet wide and 50 feet long.

From the outside, they saw the windows were covered, and the door was also probably barricaded. There were a number of Cheetahs trying to bring down the barricades, but they were all solid. Aleah approached now, and from within, she could hear talking.

"Is there anyone else in there besides Elijah?" She asked, but the Cheetah next to her said, "No, he forced everyone out, then barricaded the doors and windows with only himself inside."

She nodded, but then listened closer, and could still hear talking from within.

"Then why can I hear talking in there?"

The Cheetah shrugged and didn't respond, so she began looked for a way inside. After a minute, Drake approached the door and said, "Stand back, I'll take care of this."

"Wait!" Gloria yelled, and then continued after she had his attention, "Not to violently, he might be standing behind that door."

Drake nodded, and then shot a boulder at the door, but only hard enough to crack the tables and force them back a few feet. Aleah, Gloria, and Drake approached the door, but Chandler tried to run in front of them. Gloria grabbed him, and said, "Woah, not just yet, let's not overwhelm him. He's still healing, and if you jump on him, it might hurt him."

He didn't stop struggling, so Gloria handed him to Drake, who was larger and better at containing the dragon. She and Aleah them approached the door, and pushed though it. Inside, there was plenty of light to see, and Elijah was in the back of the room, trying to move one of his barricades on a window.

"Elijah!" Gloria said, excited, and began to run to him.

He turned around, and saw her running towards him. At that point, Aleah could see something Gloria couldn't: Fear.

He was scared of them.

He pulled out his pistol and aimed it at her, yelling, "Stop right there!"

Gloria skidded to a stop about 12 feet away from him, confused.

"Elijah, what're you doing?" She asked, and Elijah replied, "What? How do you know my name? Who are you? What are you? Where am I?"

Confusion grew even more between the two, but so far, only Gloria was talking.

"What do you mean? You know us! You saved us!"

"Pfft, I don't even know what you are or where I am! Why would I know you?"

Aleah couldn't hear even a hint of a lie, and knew he really didn't know. She stepped forward a few steps, and said before Gloria could continue, "Wait, do you remember Chandler?"

"Who the hell's Chandler?" He asked, and she looked at him sadly and said, "You really don't remember us? Why wouldn't you remember us?"

"I don't know! I can't remember anything past that explosion!"

A new voice entered the conversation from behind Aleah, "Uh oh."

"What do you mean, 'Uh oh'?" She said, turning to see Hunter in the doorway. He was hesitant in his answer,

"One of the healers that worked on him told me of a possibility of something that happened if we used a certain plant."

Aleah turned on him, and yelled, "What the hell does that mean?!"

"Well, the plant we used to stop his bleeding and help close the wounds has some very uncommon after effects… they include memory loss."

Both Aleah and Gloria looked at him with rage and disbelief, on the verge of screaming at him, when he added quickly, "Temporary! It's temporary memory loss! He'll be normal here in a few days…"

"What else is there to this condition?" She asked, hearing the tone of his voice, and he continued, "The… uh, process of the plant leaving the body is very painful."

"Do you mean he's going to poop a lot?"

"No… it will make him sick first… a fever, throwing up, nausea, and all of it extreme." He said, with a heavy tone, knowing what her reaction would be.

"W-Wh-WHAT?! WHY WOULD YOU USE SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?" She roared in outrage.

"We were trying to save his life!" He said in defense.

"By giving him something that will make him incredibly sick?!"

"Wait, what?!" Elijah said.

"Not now!" Aleah said, pointing at him. Elijah, who had stood up in anger, quickly sat down again with a surprised look.

"Listen," Hunter said, "We did what we had to do to keep him alive. And honestly, I think being sick beats being dead by a lot."

Aleah sighed, and said, "Well, I guess your right. But I still don't like it."

Now, everyone turned to the chair Elijah had been sitting on.

"Where did he go?" Aleah said, and they all realized that while they were watching Hunter and Aleah argue, Elijah slipped out the door.

"I was looking at him like 2 seconds ago, he couldn't have gone far." Said Gloria.

They hear a noise that confirmed her thinking, a thud, and then a groan.

They all rushed outside, and saw Drake pinning Elijah to the ground with his body, and still holding Chandler with his wings and paws.

"I heard your conversation and figured I should… detain him." Drake said, but was quickly ushered off of him, and picked up by Hunter and Aleah. As they dragged him back inside, she said, "Well, now he's unconscious, but at least he's not running, so thank you Drake."

"Of course." He said, having entered behind them.

"I'M NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT!" Chandler yelled, but before he could continue, Gloria said to him, "Hey, he's fine! Drake did what he had to do to keep him from running. He'll wake up soon, but for right now, all we can do is let him sleep. I mean, look at how peaceful he looks!"

Elijah really did have a calm, almost happy look, but inside, in his mind, that was probably the most confusing and yet clarifying sleeps of his life.

A dark blue dragon stood in the middle of a library, reading a book, when from behind him, he heard a thud, followed by, "Ow… what the hell?"

"Ah, there you are, Elijah, I've been waiting for a good time to do this." He said, turning to face the human.

"Wait… what the hell just happened? How did I get here?" Elijah asked, still confused.

"Your sleeping, the Dragon named Drake hit you while you were running."

"Running?" Elijah asked, and the Dragon responded, "Yes, but I'm not explaining now, you can have it explained to you when you wake up. Right now, we have something much more important to discuss."

"Alright, but first off, what's your name?" Elijah asked, and the Dragon replied, "Well, some know me by my previous name, but you just need to know as The Chronicler."

"Hm, ok." Elijah said with a nod, then asked curiously, "What do you mean by, 'Previous name'?"

His question seemed to catch the Dragon off guard, and he answered a little hesitantly,

"Well… by that I guess I mean that I died, but now I have this job."

"Hm, who knew you when you were alive?"

Again, his question took him off guard, and looked surprised, but answered him nonetheless,

"Well, you'll meet them soon enough, but for now we have other things to talk about."

"Ok, like what?" Elijah asked, dropping the previous subject in an instant.

"Why don't you tell me, you're the one who needs to know these things." The dragon said in an almost cocky tone, and Elijah, being stubborn, replied, "I don't need to know anymore than I already do. I've been surviving out here just fine without your advice, so I think I'll be good."

The dragon sighed, and said, "Alright, fine. I summoned you here because I'm confused."

Elijah smiled, and asked, "About what?"

"Well, I don't know how you got here. You just showed up out of nowhere, and began turning the tides of war entirely on your own! I don't know what you are, but I know what your related too, but you only look like the apes! Other than the fact that you use blades like them, you don't think or act like them! Your unpredictable in almost everyway, except with the one similarity that everything you do is for the good of others."

Elijah was surprised, and didn't speak for a moment, thinking.

"Ok, uh… well, I guess I come from-" but he was cut off by the Dragon, who said, "Wait, not yet, your time here is up, I'll be watching you, and listening."

"You don't want to know any of the answers to the questions you asked?"

"Oh, don't worry, you'll have to explain them to a certain few here pretty soon, and I'll be listening. Oh, and by the way, its not your friends you will be explaining it too."

Things began to fade, slowly at first, but increasing with speed, and the Chronicler said, "Tell them Ignitus sent you, but even then, you might find your audience a bit… hostile."

Everything faded.

Turns out the dream was more confusing than clarifying.

He woke with a jolt, and went to sit up with a groan. Aleah was beside him, helping him up slowly, when Elijah said, "Ow, damn, Drake, did you have to hit me that hard?"

Aleah almost dropped him in surprise, but she caught him just before he hit the ground, with Hunter.

"Wait, you remember him?"

"Y-yes? Why wouldn't I remember you all?" He said, confused.

Aleah looked at Hunter, who shrugged, and asked Elijah, "So you know where you are? Who the Cheetah and Dragons are?" Aleah added quickly to his sentence, "Who Chandler is?"

"Yes, of course I know who you are, and why would I forget Chandler?" He asked, still confused.

Hunter mumbled, "Hmm… future reference, a quick blow to the head clears memory problems…"

"M-memory problems? What? Who are you? Where are we?" He said, realizing his new surroundings.

"Oh, I'm Hunter, and your in my Village."

"Where is my bag?" He asked, but was disappointed to see Hunter's face become confused. However, Gloria came into the conversation, saying happily, "Actually, Chandler went and grabbed it before we went to far."

She grabbed it off her back with her mouth, and tossed it to him. He checked the contents, and, happy it was all there, he closed it and said, "Thank you. Now, would someone mind filling me in a bit here?"

"Oh, right." Gloria said, then opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a voice yelling, "Wait, no, Chandler!" a pause, then the voice yelled, "Elijah, Incoming on your right!"

Elijah knew exactly what was headed his way, and quickly dove to the left, right out of the chair, and when he hit the ground, he quickly kicked the chair to the left and up. He heard it connect with a loud smack, and a quiet thud as he heard Chandler hit the ground.

"Ow! What was that for, Elijah?!"

"Next time think about something before you try to tackle someone who's barely alive!" Elijah said, then went into a coughing fit. Aleah and Gloria helped him into a new chair, but he didn't stop coughing. He went on for a few minutes, and just before he stopped, he began coughing up blood.

Now he sat back in the chair with a quiet groan and his eyes pressed shut. When he finally opened them, he saw concerned and scared looks from the 4 dragons and Cheetah.

"I'll be fine here soon, don't worry." He said in the best reassuring voice he could, but judging from their looks, it wasn't very convincing. The other Cheetah from behind them came forward and said, "Yes, he will be fine, it just takes time for his body to heal."

They turned to him, but Elijah asked, "Wait, who are you again?"

"Oh, I'm Hunter." He said with a nod, and then grabbed another chair to sit in and motioned for the others to do the same. The dragons, of course, didn't use chairs, so they sat on the floor, but Aleah grabbed one.

They then sat there for about an hour, explaining things. It was Hunter who did most of the explaining, and when he told Elijah of the Plant they used, and what it did, Elijah obviously didn't like it.

But then again, who would?

"Alright, how about some food now?" Hunter said, and Elijah, who was still angry about the plant, mumbled, "Depends. Is it going to make me sick?"

Every one ignored him, and stood up to leave. When Elijah stood to join them, he fell before he could take to steps. Hunter helped him back into his chair, and then said, "We'll bring you back some food."

And just before they walked out the door, Elijah realized what Hunter had told him, and said Stubbornly, "Wait just a second! I am not going to sit here and wait for someone else to bring me my food!"

Hunter smiled at the show of resistance, but said, "You don't have a choice but to wait."

They all walked out of the door, but Elijah didn't care, he was busy trying to conjure up his strength. After a few minutes of concentrating and careful footwork, he managed to get out of the chair, and over to the pile of wreckage that used to be his barricade. He picked out a decent sized piece of wood, the leg of a table. It was probably 4 feet long, circular in dimension, and 3 inches in diameter.

With his new walking stick, he ventured out into the cool, evening air. The sun had disappeared not too long prior, so the sky was still lit up with various shades of purples, oranges, and reds.

He followed the smell of cooking meat, and the smoke in the sky, until he could hear voices. As he emerged from behind the last hut, he saw a large fire pit about 16 feet in front of him. The fire pit was surrounded by about 32 Cheetahs, and Six Dragons.

Six? He thought, seeing two medium sized dragons, one purple, and one black.

As he approached, he caught the attention of everyone around the fire. He just kept walking, ignoring the stares. One stumble after the other, he made his way through, the only thing holding him together being his own determination not to rely on others to feed him.

"Elijah?! What are you doing?! Your going to hurt yourself even more!" Aleah called, as both she and Gloria approached him.

"I'm getting food, and I really don't think it's possible to feel more pain than I am right now." He replied, but knew that while he really was in a lot of pain, it could certainly get worse. They seemed to have this same view, as Gloria said, "Oh, trust me, it can get worse."

Elijah sighed, and his anger boiled a little. His tone of voice clearly showed this as he said, "You think I don't know that? I've seen more pain and suffering in a just a year of my life than you have seen in your entire life, I was trying to be positive about it."

"You didn't do a very good job at that." Said a feminine voice that Elijah did not recognize. As he turned to investigate the source, he remembered the two unknown dragons. Sure enough, he found the voice had come from the Black Dragoness, who had moved from her spot next to the Purple one. She was eyeing him warily, studying him from head to toe. Elijah waited patiently, but after a minute, he asked, "Have you finished evaluating me yet?"

Her attention snapped back, and she said, "Oh, sorry. Yes, I am."

"Ok, so, who the hell are you two?" He asked, turning his head momentarily towards the Purple Dragon on his left. The purple dragon spoke with a young, masculine voice, which was also very full of untrust and command, "Actually, I think we will be the ones to start by asking questions."

"Excuse me?" Elijah said, not believing that this dragon was really about to force Elijah into a lesser position.

"I think you heard me, ape."

"EXCUSE ME?!" He yelled at the dragon, who flinched slightly before resuming his confident posture.

Elijah looked at Gloria, and asked, "Where the hell did these two come from?"

Before she could answer, the Purple dragon brought his attention back by saying, "Hey, ape, I thought I said we would be asking the questions?"

Elijah turned a stare on that dragon with so much anger, the Dragon flinched again.

"Kid, if you call me 'ape' one more time…"

"You'll what?" He said with a smile, and Elijah dropped his hand to his Berretta, causing Gloria and Aleah to intervene, with Aleah gently grabbing Elijah's arm and Gloria saying, "Alright, let's stop this before this gets out of hand."

Then the Black Dragoness stepped forward and said, "Yes, I completely agree. Spyro, let's go sit down and TALK this out, you don't have to fight anything."

Although neither knew what the thing Elijah dropped his hand to was, Gloria and Aleah obviously knew it was dangerous.

Elijah relaxed his arm when the dragon, now known as Spyro, walked away and sat down again. Elijah calmly went over and sat across from the Dragon, about 10 feet away. Elijah gratefully accepted some food from Hunter, which was some cooked meat and some sort of strange looking fruit. He watched her a moment, then looked around once, before asking, "Hey, Chandler?"

The young dragon approached from behind him, having been not to far away to begin with, and asked, "Yes?"

"Would you go get my bag?" He asked with a smile, and Chandler grinned widely at the show of kindness and nodded before taking off.

Elijah didn't smile at him because he was trying to show Spyro he was nice, he did it because of what he himself had put Chandler through, so he was showing them a bit of kindness.

While they waited for Chandler to return, everyone but the group of 2 cheetahs and 6 dragons had gone back to their conversation.

"Wait a second! Your not eating down here, you going to go back up there and get some sleep!" Aleah said to Elijah.

"Leave the human alone, Aleah. He's is in a lot of pain, yes, but he is determined enough to make his way up here, causing more pain. Do you want to make all that pain and energy it took him to get here for nothing?"

She was hesitant at first, but finally gave in and said, "Ok, fine. But the moment he's done eating, he's going back there and sleeping!"

Chandler showed up a few seconds later, with Elijah's backpack in his mouth. As he set it at Elijah's feet, Elijah smiled and said, "Thank you, young Dragon."

He unzipped the bag, and quickly glanced at Spyro, who was watching with both curiosity and wariness. He pulled out the two of the 3 least important, and yet critical, in a way, things in his bag.

A fork.

And a knife.

He glanced around him again, and saw confused looks. This time, however, they noticed his glance, and realized they were staring. However, only two of them didn't stop staring, Chandler and Spyro.

Chandler must not have noticed anything, and was focused on the two pieces of metal. Spyro, however, was looking at them almost like they were weapons.

Elijah ignored him, and began eating, using his utensils. He figured that once they saw what they were for, it would dissolve any questions.

It didn't.

"What are you doing?" Gloria asked, and Elijah quickly looked at Hunter, who did not have a curious look like the others, and Elijah assumed he knew what these were.

"I use them to eat." Elijah replied simply, but they pushed it further, "Why don't you use your hands?"

Elijah looked around real quick, just to make sure he wouldn't offend anyone with his next statement. Seeing no one else nearby, or even listening, he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Spyro, who said, "Yeah, why don't you eat like your ape brethren?"

Elijah's anger simmered again, and he responded, "Kid, you call me an ape again, and we're going to have a big problem." He said, and then turned to Gloria and said, "To answer your question, because it's barbaric."

She seemed satisfied with the answer, but when he looked at Spyro, he saw an angry look.

"If you call me 'kid' again, then we're going to have a real problem." He said with an unmistakable threatening tone in his voice. The black dragoness stood up and said with an equally threatening tone, "Spyro, that's enough!"

The dragon looked at her, surprised, then confused.

"Why are you taking his side? I'm your mate, you're supposed to listen to me, not this ape!"

Elijah let that one pass, and let the conversation continue. It was clear to all that the Dragoness's anger was rising, as she said, "Excuse me? Am I not allowed to have an opinion anymore?"

Elijah saw that one before Spyro did; a trick question.

"Well…." He started, uncertain, but she cut him off, "That's the thing! Before all this, you actually listened to me! You valued my opinion as if it came from one of the Guardians! But ever since we became mates, you don't listen to me, you don't value my opinion. You think that because you're the male, you have complete power over me! AND I'M SICK OF IT!" She roared, and then closed her eyes for a few seconds.

Spyro had already dropped his eyes in shame, but now, his head hung, too, in shame. He opened his mouth, "I'm-"

"Just go." She said, cutting him off.

His eyes went wide in surprise and fear, and he hesitated.

"Go!" she yelled, her eyes still shut.

Spyro dropped his head again, and walked off. Even after he was gone, she kept her eyes closed, and everyone was quiet.

But, sure enough, conversations around them slowly resumed. After a minute, she opened her eyes, and seemed to act like nothing happened, saying, "Sorry, I don't think I ever told you my name." She paused a moment, and picked up one of her paws, and offered it to him. Surprised, Elijah took her paw and they 'shook hands' and the Dragoness said, "My name is Cynder."

He nodded, and said, "Nice to meet you, but if you don't mind me asking, how did you know to shake my hand?"

"Oh, I actually lived with apes a long time ago, and they do this, so I just assumed…"

"Hmm, ok, I guess that makes sense, other than the fact that you lived with them."

"I'd rather not talk about it." She said, and Elijah dropped the subject, while she picked up another,

"So, in the little bit I've heard, you've caused quite a stir in the lives of just about every creature in this village and the one you saved."

"Yeah, he really caused a stir in our lives." Aleah said, but Cynder's face turned to curiosity as she said, "Oh, you guys came from that Village too?"

"What do you mean by that? Did someone else survive?" She asked, excited, and Cynder replied, "Yes, another Cheetah did. We found him wandering, and he told us of the story. Spyro of course, didn't believe it, but I did."

"Where is this Cheetah? Is he here?"

"Yes, he's here, but how did you know he was a m-"

"Where is he? I have to talk to him!"

"Aleah?" said a voice to their right, and Aleah's eyes went wide, and she slowly turned to face the voice.

To their right stood a clearly well built Cheetah, with dark brown, almost black, fur, and a huge smile. And a bandage across his chest.

"By the ancestors, is it really you?!" she said, but didn't wait for an answer, and ran towards the Cheetah and embraced him with an almost bone-crushing hug. She held him there for a minute before he forced her to let go of him. He took a deep breath as soon as she did, and then said, "Of course it's me! Do you know any other Cheetahs like me?"

She smiled and said, "I guess your right, I don't know any others."

Hunter approached now, and asked, "So, how do you two know each other?"

"Oh, right! Um, this is my mate, Tristan. He was one of the council members at the village, you might have seen him, Drake."

"Oh, yes, I know him very well." Drake responded with a smile.

"Oh, right! You and I competed for best warrior!" Tristan said, and they both laughed. Then Drake said, "Sorry to tell you, but I don't think you're the number one warrior any more."

Both Aleah's and Triston's faces contorted in confusion, but after a moment, Triston's face cleared and was replaced with realization and a smile, and he said, "Oh, right!"

He turned and walked over to Elijah, who had just finished his food, and now saw the approaching Cheetah. He quickly stood to meet the Cheetah, as he assumed it was respectful to meet someone eye to eye.

He assumed correctly in that manner, but wrongly assumed he could actually stand. As he fell, Tristan caught him, and, rather than make him sit back down, he handed Elijah his makeshift crutch. With a pat on the shoulder, he released Elijah, allowing him to stand freely.

"Thank you." Elijah said with a nod, but Tristan replied, "No, I should be thanking you! You not only saved me, but also Aleah and her friends!"

"Wait, how did I save you?"

"Oh, uh, well… I watched you fighting, first off. I took a sword while fighting off one wave, and fell. I tried to crawl back to Drake's house, but couldn't make it. But, that put me in the perfect position to see you fight off all the apes. Great job with that by the way."

"Oh, thanks, but I don't see how that relates to me saving you." Elijah replied, and Triston said, "Oh, you kept them from looking for me. You distracted them, keeping them from finding and finishing me."

A young, male, voice interrupted them, "Wait, if you two were injured at the same time, why are you already healing more than he is?"

They turned, and found a small Cheetah had been listening to their conversation, and it now had a confused look, and it added, "Do you heal faster than he does?"

Tristan smiled, and dropped to one knee so he was level with the child, and said, "No, I think we heal about the same, but he got hurt a lot worse than I did."

"How much?" He asked, in the most innocent voice Elijah could remember.

"Well, I only got one big cut, but he got lots of really big cuts, and got shot with an arrow!" He said, in a fake, astonished tone. When that Cheetah looked at Elijah, he would never forget that face again.

Joy, wonder, hope, everything you would think to find when a child looks at their hero.

Elijah was this little kid's hero. He actually looked up to him, and this was the first time anyone had done that.

And unfortunately, it would be the last time for quite a while.

The kid ran off after a moment, and Cynder approached them again, saying, "Wow, your fitting in nicely here."

"Yeah, unfortunately I can't stay here."

Everyone looked at him, confused and shocked, but Cynder was the only one to ask, "What? Why do you need to leave?"

"Well, I have a mission to carry out, and, I can't do that sitting here."

Chandler jumped up next to Elijah, and said, "No, WE have a mission."

Elijah smiled, and said, "Yes, we have a mission." And he patted the Dragon on the head a few times.

"What mission? What is this mission of yours?" Cynder asked, curious and intrigued. Elijah hesitated in his answer, opening but then closing his mouth multiple times, before he finally said, "Ok, fine, I'll try to give you the shorter version of this story."

"We have plenty of time. I mean, your not going anywhere until you've healed." Aleah said, with a faint note of command.

"I know that, it's more because I don't want to tell the whole story. It's kind of….personal… and probably really confusing for you guys, so I'm just going to avoid it all together."

Most of them had looks of understanding, all but Aleah, Gloria, and Cynder.

Of course it's the girls that want the complicated shit, he thought. But, to his relief and further frustration, they didn't request the full story. Rather, he got a look from each of them that said, you have some talking to do later.

Chandler sat expectantly, about 5 feet away, as did the others. Regretfully, he also noticed that a number of the other Cheetahs were listening to him.

God damn it, I went from a hero, to a story teller in 10 seconds.

While he did think of this with annoyance, he really did feel happy about being able to share his thoughts, so he started,

"Well, when I showed up a few months ago, I was so confused. I had no idea where I was, what was safe, what wasn't safe, who was friendly, and who wasn't. After about 3 days, I went from confused, too hungry, tired, and scared. But, I just kept wandering in search of answers, food, someplace safe." He paused a moment before continuing, "I never found that safe place, because, I realized I didn't need one. Just because I was someplace new, didn't mean I had to change my way of life I had before I came to this place. I had been surviving just fine before, so I went back to surviving like I had before."

"Constantly on the move, finding what I could, but never more than I could carry. And it worked. I regained my strength within a few days, and I was on my way to finding answers. Then, one day, I found an Ape camp." He paused again, with a deep breath, and a sigh, "And I saw something that set my goals. Something absolutely horrible. I watched the apes tear apart a dragon, limb by limb, and begin eating it. They had another dragon there, too. But this one, they didn't bother to tear apart first, they ate it alive. I didn't even think apes were carnivorous! I think it may have been some sort of victory celebration, and that makes it so much worse! They enjoyed it…"

He stopped, and waited for a comment or question, but he received none, and continued, "That is why I'm doing what I'm doing. I don't care if I could be on the winning side because I look like them. I'd rather die than betray my beliefs, my family, and my friends."

"Why do you keep referencing what you did before? And where you came from? Don't you come from here?" Tristan asked, then Hunter added, "And you say you have family? Where?" then Cynder added, "And you didn't answer my question."

Elijah sighed, frustrated, and said, "This was the part I was hoping to avoid talking about."

"Why would you avoid it? Unless you have something to hide…" Cynder said in mock suspicion.

They all looked at him, but Aleah and Gloria smiled evilly at him, making him realize that if he didn't do something, they were going to exploit this opportunity as much as possible.

He couldn't allow that.

While he could share most of his past, he had some things he would never even admit to himself he saw, let alone share it with others.

So, he took to unexpected angle, he began sharing on his own.

"Well, if we're going to talk about this, it'll be in private." He said, then stood and began making his way to the Hospital. It was a long walk for Elijah, and by the time he got there, his leg burned, his head was pounding, and he was breathing heavily.

He sat down in a chair to catch his breath, and when he looked up, he found Hunter holding the canteen from Elijah's bag out to him. He took it, and took a few sips before putting the cap back on and he said, "Thanks. Alright, so, I'm not going to answer all your questions, but I'll try to answer most of them. But, if I say I don't want to answer it, you have to respect my choice and not push me, Deal?"

They all nodded in agreement, then Gloria was the first to ask him something, "Where did you come from?"

"Well, that's a complicated answer. The world I come from is extremely advanced, much more so than this world. We have planes, buildings taller than you could imagine, technology beyond your comprehension, and so much of it, that no one person can know it all. In fact, nothing knows it all. Entire communities contribute to a common knowledge. Anyways, the specific place I come from is a country called the United States of America. We are one of the world powers, both Militarily and Economically." His eyes fell, and his voice filled with more sadness and regret than any of them thought possible, "Or, at least we were."

"What do you mean by that?" Gloria asked, but Elijah shook his head and said, "Sorry, I'm not ready to talk about that just yet."

"Ok, we don't have to talk about that." Gloria said, and Hunter asked shortly after, "What kind of weapons did you have?"

Elijah's smile returned faintly, and he said, "Oh, now that is a fun topic." He now had the attention of Drake, Hunter, Tristan, and surprisingly, Cynder.

He pulled out his pistol, and pulled the clip out, then said, "For the most part, we use these things called guns." He popped one round out of the clip and said, "This is a bullet, it has a metal casing at the bottom that is filled with an explosive powder, that, when ignited, shoots this little thing down the barrel of the gun at incredibly fast speeds. This little ball of metal then impacts with the target, if aimed correctly, and punctures it. This is actually a very small gun. We have much larger guns, and they shoot larger bullets at even higher speeds, or they shoot many of them in a shorter time. We call them fully automatic weapons. This one here is a Semi-Automatic Side arm, meaning it fires only once every time I pull the trigger. The fully automatic weapons are only used by military personnel, but they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but the one similarity, is that you hold down the trigger and it shoots bullets on its own. The difference, is the size of the bullet, and the rate it fires them. Another type of gun is a Sniper Rifle, which is basically just a larger gun that fires a large bullet at very long distances, and in a very accurate manner."

"So these are the weapons you use?' Hunter asked, assuming that Elijah's pause meant he was done.

"Well, Guns are just one category of weapons we use. There are also Explosives and Vehicles, but only some explosives are used by infantry, which are just regular foot soldiers. They use grenades, which are little hand held explosives that are thrown, and there are Grenade launchers, which fire grenades at a longer distance, and then there are rocket launchers. Those things fire high explosive devices at long distances, and are generally only used on armored Vehicles. Now, vehicles are going to be a confusing topic for you, and like I said earlier, no one knows everything, so I can't really tell you how they work, only what they do." He saw nods and continued, "So, there are three categories, Land, Air, and Sea."

"Wait, Air? You can fly?" Gloria asked, and Elijah shook his head and said, "Not on our own. We weren't given the ability to fly, so, we made our own flying machines. They started off simple, light, slow, breakable. But then they advanced. Larger, faster, more weapons, bombers, fighters, mixtures of each. We have planes that can fly higher than any dragon could dream of flying! To the point that the pilots have to wear oxygen masks because the air is to thin. Some can travel faster than sound!"

He saw a few looks of astonishment, and a few of actually disbelief, as if they didn't believe him.

"Then there are the Land Vehicles. These include everything from transports, to tanks! A tank is a heavily armored, all terrain vehicle generally with a large cannon atop it, which fires explosive shells. Then we have Water craft. These are all sorts of sizes, from little 5 person boats, to massive Aircraft carriers and Destroyers. These can have crews of hundreds of people, and have massive arsenals at their disposal, ranging from armories filled with guns, to 75mm antiaircraft guns, to 305mm guns, and some have even larger than that!"

"Did you guys have big wars?" Hunter asked. Elijah's face turned sad again, as did his voice, but he kept talking, "Well, ya. We did have some pretty big wars. One of the biggest mistakes we made was creating something we never should have. The Nuclear bomb. It's a weapon of mass destruction, and although I don't know exactly how it worked, I do know that it released unimaginable amounts of energy. So much energy, that the people and objects closest to the center are vaporized instantly. And what follows is so much worse… I'm sorry, but that's all I'll say on that subject."

"It's fine, I have a new question," Gloria said, "Do you have any family?"

"Yeah, I had some family, my parents were good people, and my sister was annoying at times, but I loved her. I had a wife, too. Her name was Ally." He smiled at a memory that only he could see, "We met on an airplane. We hit some turbulence, and she fell over, but I caught her before she fell. We managed to get some other person to switch seats with me so I could sit by her, and we talked the whole rest of the flight. We stayed in touch after that, and 3 years after we met, we got married." He laughed, and his smile brightened considerably, "Our wedding was amazing, so much fun, so many smiles, so much love."

"Where are they now?" Aleah asked, and he became sad again.

His voice shook as he said, "Dead. Killed during…. No, I'm sorry, I can't. I'm done talking now."

"Wait, it's fine, we'll talk about some-" Aleah started, but was cutoff by Elijah, who almost yelled, "I said I'm done talking!"

He didn't see what their faces portrayed, as he turned away. They stood and slowly walked out of the room, leaving him alone.

It was a rather warm night, but the air in the room didn't feel hot or cold. In fact, he couldn't really feel anything. When he started to mentally question this, everything went black.

He woke with a start, back in the place he had previously. As he stood up, he heard movement behind him, and he turned quickly to face it.

Nothing.

Another movement had him spinning around again, still to find nothing.

Confused, he took a step forward.

Rapid footsteps behind him sent him into a dive to the left. As he came upright, he quickly turned around, drawing his knife, and parried a sword aimed at his throat. As the sword went off to his left, he brought his fist up and landed it on the ape's face. As it staggered back, Elijah darted forward, and slipped his knife between the ape's ribs.

The moment after he did this, the ape disintegrated into dust, and the Dragon appeared.

"What the hell was that?" Elijah asked, confused.

"Test number one. I brought you here tonight not to answer questions of any sort, nor to ask you any. For the next 12 hours, you will be practicing on ape's, Grublins, and every single other creature known to this world, friendly or not. And, at the end, I have a gift for you, as well a task for you."

"Why do I have to Practice? Am I not good enough?"

"You might very well be good enough, but I need to know for sure, as do you. Starting soon, you are going to be encountering not only much larger enemies, but much better trained enemies. You need to know what to expect if you're to win this war."

"Uh, hold on a second, you said 12 hours!?"

"Yes, but you won't tire out here, and time goes by slower when you're here. 12 hours here means 5 hours back home."

Elijah nodded, then both were quiet until the Dragon asked, "Are you ready?"

"I thought you said you weren't going to be asking questions?"

The dragon rolled its eyes, and disappeared.

Another ape appeared, and Elijah charged the ape with a yell.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ok, I made a mistake while planning this story out. I didn't do my research, and had planned to use the Pool of Visions in this chapter, but didn't find out until it occurred to me that I might be assuming to much, and it turned out I was.**

 **And so, I apologize for this, but I have to break the rules again. For this story, the Pool of Visions is no longer in the Dragon Temple, (which was destroyed) and is now inside the Temple at Warfang. Also, the city itself is not made of the Sandstone looking stuff, but of a grey stone and woodI'm sorry, but I see no other way to progress the story as planned without this**.

Elijah was thrown to the side by an Ape that stood nearly 8 feet. Breathing heavily, he stood up, and got ready for another attack.

By this point, the dragon had admitted to him that he would indeed tire, but only during the battle, and after it he would regenerate the energy. He had also long since left the Library, and started fighting in a stone arena, with the shape of a Hexagon.

The ape charged him, and rammed him with his shoulder, sending Elijah into the wall, where he then bounced off it and landed 6 feet away.

Damn It! I can't win like this! It's too damned strong, He thought, then scanned the arena for options. After a moment, he stopped, thinking there was nothing the arena could do to help him.

And idea hit him.

He didn't wait and think about it, but instead turned and ran around the ape. It followed him, until, that is, Elijah jumped at the wall, and pushed himself over the ape. The ape did not slow down in time, and ran face first into the wall with a crack.

As it staggered backwards, stunned, Elijah jumped on it, and stabbed it multiple times in the chest.

As he stood, trying to catch his breath, the ape disintegrated, and then, the arena faded back to the Library. His energy refilled quickly after, and he saw the Dragon again.

"Was that the last one?" Elijah asked, and the Dragon responded, "Almost, you only have one more to fight."

"Where is it?"

"Standing in this room."

"You?" Elijah asked, unsure.

"No, YOU."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to make a deal with you. You need to overcome your past memories, and admit them to your friends, you need to trust in them. You need to overcome yourself. If you don't do this, I will do it for you. Deal?"

"I don't see how that is a deal…"

"What would you like to call it?"

"A condition."

"Ok, fine. Do you accept this condition?"

Elijah groaned, realizing he hadn't helped his problem at all, then thought for a few minutes. Finally he let loose a long sigh, and said, "Ok, fine. I agree."

"Good, now, before you go, I have something for you."

He held out his paw, and it had a necklace in it. Elijah picked it up, and looked at it. It appeared to be made of silver, and the piece on the end was shaped like a dragon's head. This dragon was not made of silver, as was the chain. This was made of Crystal, with the scales etched into it. It consisted of 3 different colors, Red, Green, and a dark purple, almost black color. The face was split in half, the right side being green, the left being Red, and the eyes were the black crystals.

"Well, it's a very pretty necklace, but why do I need it?" Elijah asked, and the Dragon Chuckled and responded, "It's much more than just a piece of jewelry. That necklace gives you abilities you wouldn't otherwise survive without. When wearing that, you can absorb and use the crystals found throughout the world. And that's what your going to do when you wake up, find a patch of red, healing crystals, and use them to heal."

"Ok, I can do that, but I assume you have a task for me?"

"Yes, one of great importance. You need to get to the city of Warfang as soon as possible. Don't bring anyone else, they don't need to know of what's coming, only you do."

"Uh, wait, what happens if they find me? Won't they think it's suspicious?"

"If that happens, tell them, 'Ignitus Told me to do so.' That won't clear up confusion, but it'll clear up any doubt they have. Well, for Spyro, Cynder, and Hunter anyways."

"Oh, well, ok."

"Oh, and one last thing, keep that amulet a secret as long as you can. As soon as others learn of it, word will spread, and to the wrong creatures. You will undoubtedly be a target, but if they learn of that, they will stop at nothing to take it from you."

Everything faded.

He woke up, and quietly looked around. He was not alone like he had been when he fell asleep. He wasn't even in the same room. He was now in a warm cave, with one other creature, which was on the opposite side of the cave.

After a minute, his eyes adjusted, and he recognized Spyro. He was on alert instantly, the intentions of Spyro unknown, and checked for his weapon. He found it at his side, both knife and Gun. He then found that the pillow he had was actually his bag.

Having found no attempts by Spyro to disarm him in any way, he shifted to a sitting position. Spyro shifted as well, and sat up. There was a brief, bright flash that light up the room, and when it dimmed, it did not disappear. Elijah's eyes adjusted again, and saw a fire in the middle of the cave.

He looked at Spyro, who had a very serious look that mixed with the drowsiness of having just woken up.

"Why am I here, Spyro?"

"I watched you, and listened to your stories. I'm not sure if I believe any of them, but after they left, I saw the way you passed out. I know what you did when you slept. I've done it too. I want to know what the Chronicler is talking with you about."

"Uh…" Elijah said, shocked, confused, and unsure, so Spyro attempted to clarify, "I know that you've been talking to the Chronicler. I know that he only does this if it's extremely important. Tell me what he told you."

"He told me not to tell anyone, because word would spread and make me an even bigger target-"

"I know. That's why we're in a cave." He interrupted.

Elijah sighed, and started, "Fine, I'll tell you what I know, but even Ignitus didn't know much-"

"How do you know that name?" He interrupted again, making Elijah frown.

"What do you mean?"

"How do you know that name?" He repeated, and Elijah responded cautiously, "Well, the Dragon I talked to called himself Ignitus. Why?"

"I used to know a dragon named Ignitus. I'm glad that he was made the Chronicler, we're in good claws."

"Well, he seemed pretty confused about how I got here and why I'm here. He couldn't even predict my actions and questions."

"Hmm, well, I'm sure there's a reason behind that. But for now, all I need to know is what he said to you during your last visit."

"Well, we started with training. Lots of it. Against very strong and very smart enemies. Enemies he said none had faced so far, and probably none are prepared for. Then, he gave me something and told me to go to Warfang."

"What did he give you?"

Instinctively, he reached for his neck, where a necklace would go, but found nothing. A little worried, he checked his pockets, and found it.

He pulled it out, and held it in the firelight. Spyro's eyes locked on it, but not in a greedy or awestruck way, more of a slight curiosity.

"He told me that two of them would allow me to use Red and Green crystals? I don't really know what that means, but he never told me what the Darker Crystals do."

"Dark Crystals? How is that possible…?"

"What? Why is that-"

"Never mind, I think I know why he gave you that."

"Yeah, to heal up and get to Warfang. Oh, and he wanted me to do this alone." Elijah said, and Spyro responded with one short question, "Do you know how to get to Warfang?"

Elijah saw the flaw, but was hesitant to give in, "Uh…"

"Yeah, nice try. I'm coming with you."

"Alright, fine. First things first, I need some of these healing Crystals."

It took almost an hour of wandering before they found some.

It was painful and mind numbing for Elijah, and when they found the Crystals, Spyro warned him, "Hey, careful, those things do heal, but the process is very painful."

"Ok" Elijah replied, then kicked the Crystal, and picked up a handful of shards. As they turned grey, Elijah suppressed a scream, as he felt his bones mending back together, the skin closing and fusing together, Severed Muscles being pulled back together, dislocated bones pulling and pushing, and his heart strengthening within moments, trying to keep up with the new demand for blood.

It was there for an instant, the next, the pain doubled, making him yell, as the mending became permanent. Or, at least, permanent until the next time he broke them.

Then it was gone.

He turned and looked at Spyro, who had a shocked look on his face.

"By the Ancestors, you really can do it!"

"Yeah, but when you said it would hurt, I didn't think it would hurt that damned much!" Elijah replied a little angrily.

"I didn't know it would either, it never hurt me that much. And I normally have to use an entire patch, but just one handful had you healed completely!" he paused a moment before adding, "I guess it's because our bodies are so different."

"Yeah, that would make sense." Elijah replied, then realized he was sitting down now, and added quietly, "Why am I sitting down now…?" and then stood up.

"Because you fell down." Spyro responded, surprising Elijah.

"I wasn't asking you a question."

"then who were you asking?" Spyro asked curiously.

"Well… I guess to myself." He responded, and saw Spyro's slightly confused look, and added, "It doesn't matter. What does, is getting to Warfang."

"Right, let's get going."

8 hours later

"Good god, how far is this damn city?! We've been going at a non-stop run for like half a day!"

"Actually, it's been 8 hours. And we haven't been running non-stop, we take a break every hour."

"I'm not in shape to run this much!"

"Well, that's partly your own fault, if you didn't fly everywhere, you'd have stronger legs. Now quit whining and figure out how close we are." Elijah said.

Spyro jumped into the air, so he could get a better view of the landscape. He landed quickly, and said, "Well, apparently we made a lot of progress since the last time I checked, because we're about 10 minutes away."

"Holy shit, that far? Really? I thought it would take much longer to get there."

"It's even faster when you fly. Maybe we should try that next time."

Elijah rolled his eyes, and started off down the path again.

"So how are we getting in?" Elijah asked, and Spyro thought a moment before replying.

"Well, I don't think that the front door would be a good idea, but I don't really know of any secretive ways."

"That didn't help to decide what were going to do." Elijah said, annoyed, then asked, "What's the problem with me going in the front door, anyways?"

"Well, you look like an ape… they might attack you."

"I can take care of myself. I trained on every type of creature Ignitus knows of, including Dragons and Cheetahs, so I think he may have predicted this."

"What about Moles?"

"Oh, ya, I think I fought them a few times too."

Spyro thought very hard for quite some time, before he finally said, "Well, I really can't think of any alternatives, so…"

Elijah finished the sentence for him, "let's go knock on a really big door."

As they emerged from the trees, Elijah stopped momentarily to take in the size of the wall.

It was probably 100 feet tall, and stretched for miles in each direction. He kept walking along the path, and soon, it merged with a different, larger path. This one was also much more traveled, and they walked past multiple other groups of various creatures. Each one they passed gave him funny looks, and some had concerned looks.

However, with Spyro walking right next to him, none of them did anything, and kept walking. Once they reached the gate, Spyro decided to try something else, and told Elijah to wait about 30 feet away from the gate, next to a tree in a field outside the crowds, while he flew over the wall to talk to the guardians first. Spyro had been gone about 5 minutes when it happened.

A group of guards had just walked out of the gate, 2 dragons and 8 moles, when they saw Elijah sitting by the tree.

"APE!" One of the Dragons yelled, catching Elijah's attention, making his head spin around, looking for an Ape. As he stood up to look, the group charged him, and surrounded him.

"You guys were talking about me? Hold on just a second! I'm not an ape, I'm here with-"

"Shut it, ape! You made a mistake coming here, and now you'll pay dearly for that mistake!" The dragon yelled, then turned quickly to the other dragon and said, "Get these Civilians out of here."

The dragon nodded, and walked away, yelling at the forming crowd.

The 8 moles awaited orders, and looked confident and vengeful, so Elijah made one last attempt to diffuse the situation, "Hey, let's just wait a second. No need to try and kill me, just arrest me or something, and Spyro can explain everything."

"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK HIS NAME! Your not worthy of it! You will die for disgracing his name!" Yelled the Dragon, of which Elijah replied with a confused and slightly offended tone, "What? Dude, why are you overreacting?"

"Why are you calling me 'Dude?' is that some sort of insult?!"

"Wh- No! It's not an insult! Can you- no, can we ALL calm down?! For a few minutes?!" Elijah said, frustrated. The guards could clearly see his frustration, and while it made the moles hesitate and become nervous, it gave the Dragon reason to say, "Kill it."

While the moles began to advance, Elijah gave one last attempt, "Please don't do this, I don't want to do this." But, after seeing them continue advancing, he quickly looked around at the crowd of Civilians that the Dragon was having a problem with containing, and then an idea hit him.

"HEY! ALL YOU WATCHING ME RIGHT NOW! YOU'VE BEEN WATCHING ME THE LAST 5 MINUTES! YOU SAW ME ARRIVE HERE WITH SPYRO! YOU ALL KNOW I'VE NOT DONE ANYTHING, RIGHT!?" He yelled, and saw a few heads in the crowd nod, so he continued, "I AM ABOUT TO BE ATTACKED! AND I AM GOING TO RETALIATE!"

Insurance policy… Elijah thought, and then noticed that some of the moles stopped in their advance.

However, they were quickly spurred on by the Dragon, who said, "Have you forgotten that we are at war with apes?! He has trespassed, so it doesn't matter if he's done anything!"

Elijah went to say that he wasn't an ape, but they attacked.

The group wasn't very well armed, but they were better than the apes he fought. 4 had spears, with wooden shafts and steel points, and the other 4 had steel swords, double sided and heavy, but only one of them had a wooden shield to accompany it, so they wouldn't be able to block attacks.

The first one to attack was the one with a sword and shield.

As the mole brought his sword down from an overhead swing, Elijah pivoted to the left, and the sword went right in front of him. The sword embedded itself in the dirt, and stuck slightly. Elijah grabbed the sword hilt, and hit the mole with his elbow, causing it to stagger backwards and release its grip on the sword.

Elijah quickly pulled the sword out of the soft soil, and found that this sword actually wasn't that heavy. The mole came back at him with the shield, trying to bash Elijah with it. However, it was slow and heavy, and Elijah easily slipped around the shield, and hit the mole on the side of the head with the sword hilt. As the mole fell, he turned to the right, where the next mole attacked. This one had a spear, and it attempted to stab Elijah with it. It was a slow move, and Elijah quickly flicked the tip aside with the sword, and darted forward. He rammed the mole with his shoulder, knocking it to the ground, and then quickly stepped backwards, just in time for another spear to slide in front of him.

He quickly grabbed the spear, and tore it from the mole's grasp and causing it to stagger forward as well. Holding the spear about 2/3 the way down, Elijah whipped it around, and knocked the mole on the back of the head with the but of the spear. He then brought it back up with a spin, and hit another Mole in the head with the spear, sending it to the ground unconscious. At that moment, Elijah found that the dragon had taken flight, and was hurling Fireballs at him, forcing him to roll to the left. He discarded the spear now, but in a useful way.

He pulled his arm back, and cast the spear at the dragon, just as it threw another fireball. A bit of an unexpected event, but an even better result than his original plan, the spear hit the fireball, causing it to explode, right in front of the Dragon's face. The dragon fell to the ground, and made the ground shake as it hit.

This made the next closest mole loose his balance, and Elijah took advantage of it, by shooting forward and ramming it with his shoulder. The mole hit its head on the ground with a thud, and did not move.

At first, Elijah feared he killed the mole, but after a moment, he noticed a slight up and down motion of its chest.

He then heard footsteps behind him, and spun around quickly, just in time to push a spear aside with his sword. The mole fell forward with the unexpected lack of impact, right into Elijah's waiting fist. His punch connected with the mole's face with a crack, and the mole staggered backwards, but did not fall. While the mole recovered, two more rushed in around it, one with a sword and the other with a spear.

The mole with the spear lunged at him, but didn't put all his weight into it, as to avoid the mistake he had seen made earlier by his comrades. Unfortunately, the mole didn't put quite enough weight into it.

Actually, he put barely any weight at all into his attack. Elijah grabbed the spear, just behind the tip, and held it firm, stopping it's progress instantly. To Elijah, this took little effort or strength, but to the watching guards, this looked like an incredible feat of strength and power. Elijah took a moment to look around. And in that single moment, he saw fear, surprise, astonishment, and terror on the faces of the remaining dragon and 4 moles.

Elijah ripped the spear out of the mole's grasp, and threw it to the side, causing the mole to jump back in surprise and fear.

"That's enough!" Elijah yelled, taking advantage of this fear, "Let this end, now! I don't want to hurt anyone else, but I will if I have to!"

The Moles said nothing, but the remaining dragon, who had so far remained uninvolved, stepped forward and said in the most elegant sounding, feminine voice Elijah had ever heard, "Why are you here?"

Elijah was stunned for a moment, as he realized it was really obvious she was a Dragoness, as her slender body was elegant and beautiful, and a wonderful shade of green.

After a moment he realized she was awaiting an answer, and then decided that the truth was the better way around this.

"Well, honestly, I haven't a damned clue as to why. All I know is that some dragon who called himself the Chronicler told me too, but then Spyro found out and came with me."

The dragoness looked at him, confused, for a minute before opening her mouth to respond, but she was cut off by another voice,

"Elijah?! What in the Ancestor's Names happened down here? I was only gone for 6 minutes when I heard there was a fight down here!" Spyro said, after landing.

"Don't look at me, I didn't start this shit." Elijah replied, then gestured to the guards, and said, "They did. Specifically him." He said, pointing to the still unconscious red dragon. Spyro sighed and said, "This isn't going to end well."

"Relax, I have witnesses!" Elijah said, pointing at the crowd.

"What ever, let's just get to the Temple so I can find the Guardians."

They walked over to, and through the gate, and the Dragoness followed them. She was a foot or so shorter than Elijah, and he stood at 6 foot 2, so he assumed she was an adult, and being much younger than Drake, who stood at least 6 feet taller than Elijah did, but he didn't walk at full height all the time.

Elijah also noticed that while he was examining her, she was doing the same to him, and on one occasion, their eyes met and locked for a few moments, but quickly shifted away.

As they followed Spyro, Elijah also noticed that he was getting a number of Dirty looks from others, as well as some curious looks.

When they finally reached the temple, Elijah didn't bother to study it on the outside, and waited to study it on the inside.

When the big doors opened, a couple of guards saw Elijah, and Charged him. They were quickly stopped by Spyro, who said, "He's a friend, not a threat."

They hesitantly walked back to their posts, and the trio kept going. They walked through a number of hallways before ending up in a smaller room with 4 doors, one on each wall. The room was also dimly lit with a candle, and somewhat difficult to see in.

"Ok, stay here while I try to find the Guardians." Spyro said, but Elijah quickly responded, "Uh, is that a good idea?"

"Yeah, you'll be fine!" He said enthusiastically, then walked out the door they came in, and it closed behind him. He looked at the Dragoness, who was standing awkwardly on the other side of the room.

"So, what's your n-" Elijah started, but stopped when he heard a voice from behind the door call, "Spyro? Did I see you walk in here?" And the door opened to show a blue dragon that was even larger than the dragoness with him.

"By the Ancestors! An Ape!" It said, and Elijah put his hands up and replied, "Wait a second!"

But before he could continue, another door opened, and a Yellow, spotted dragon appeared and said, "What's going on in here?"

Then his eyes landed on Elijah and went wide, and he said, "An ape!"

Now Elijah did the same for this dragon, but before he could say anything, a third door opened and a very large, green dragon entered the room and asked, "Did I hear, 'ape?'"

His eyes then landed on Elijah as well.

Frustrated, Elijah yelled, "Can ya stop calling me ape! For God's Sake! Its so annoying! Now, unless anyone else is going to join us, I'd like a chance to speak for myself BEFORE things get out of hand!"

Half a second later, he head the fourth door squeak open. Annoyed and frustrated, he turned to the door while asking, "Who the hell is this?" but when he made it half way through the turn, he heard, "APE!" Yelled in a panicky female voice, and the moment he faced the source, a fireball blew up in his face, sending him flying through the door into the next room.

10 Minutes Later…

Elijah leaned against one wall with an angry frown, while a healer applied some sort of medicine to help with the burn on his face. Meanwhile, across the room, struggling to stand, were the 4 Guardians and Spyro.

"Come on! I left you for how long before you started fighting again!"

"Again, I did not start it" Elijah replied calmly, and pushed the healer away and walked towards Spyro, "And yet again, I have a witness to this fact." He said, motioning to the Green Dragoness.

"He's right, both times he was attacked first." She said, causing Spyro to look at each of the Guardians.

"We thought you were an ape, so we attacked! That's how things go!" Said the dark green one, previously identified as Terrador, as Spyro had told Elijah all their names just before. However, it wasn't their names he cared about, he wanted to know the green Dragoness' name.

The Blue one was Cyril, the strange colored one was Volteer, and the Red Dragoness was the new Fire Guardian, according to Spyro, and she was the youngest to ever become one. As a result, she still jumped to conclusions on things. Her name was Lillian.

She then spoke up, "Yeah, sorry about that, I just, kind of… jumped into action…"

"It's fine, I've been through worse." Elijah said, touching the burn on his face, then frowned and said quietly, "Unfortunately my face is ruined."

"Why would your face be ruined?" Asked Lillian, making Elijah realize they heard him.

"Uh… well, it's going to scar…"

"I thought scars were Attractive?" She said, then regretted it, and added shyly, "Or, maybe it's just me…" she seemed to shrink a little, but was a little less embarrassed hen Elijah said, "Huh, well, I guess it's a good thing I have lots of them. Just add one more to the pile, I guess. I mean, it's not the worst one I have."

"Really? It looks kinda bad… what would be worse than that?" Asked Lilian, and Elijah replied with a laugh and said lightly, "Oh, this isn't bad, a little burn isn't going to stop me now."

The dragoness clearly wanted to pursue the topic, but Spyro then yelled, "Hey! A little off topic here!"

"Oh, right!" Elijah said, then, after thinking a minute, he said, "Wait, Spyro, we don't really even know why we're here."

Spyro's eyes widened slightly and he said, "Oh, right…"

He thought a moment, then his eyes light up as if he had an idea, and he said to Terrador, "We need to use the Pool of Visions."

"You want to take an ape to the Pool Of Visions!? Have you gone mad?!" Cyril yelled, then winced in pain before continuing, "Even after he did this to us?"

"You did this to yourself, don't pin this on me." Elijah said, and Lillian agreed, "Yes, I take responsibility for it."

"That doesn't make it ok for an ape to enter-" Terrador started, but was cut off by Elijah, "I'm not an ape!"

"Well then what are you?" Volteer asked, and Elijah replied, "I'm a human."

"Guys, off topic again... But either way, we're using it." Spyro said, then motioned for Elijah to follow. Before they exited, Elijah noticed the Green Dragoness followed, and he heard Lillian say, "Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens, and tell you what happens."

As she jumped in front of Spyro, saying, "I'll lead the way there, but I'm going to record these events."

"Why?" Spyro asked, and she replied, "Because we have a new Method that the Guardians have been waiting to test."

Spyro didn't bother asking about it, and neither did Elijah, and they started walking. After a few more turns, they came to a stop in front of a door, which she opened. Inside, they saw a small, grey dragon.

"Woah… why is he grey?" Spyro asked, as the Dragon had not noticed them yet, and Lillian replied, "She is grey because she does not have any of the Elemental powers, she has a different set of powers…"

"She has the Dark Elements?" Spyro asked in disbelief, but she shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, but another voice spoke first, "No, I have the 'In-Between' powers."

They turned and saw the Grey Dragoness had said it, and now was approaching them.

"What do you mean?" Spyro asked, confused.

"I don't have the normal powers, but I don't have the evil ones either. My powers are more neutral, but, if used incorrectly, I have one that begins to lean more towards the evil ones." The Dragoness clarified, and Spyro asked suspiciously, "Which one?"

"You'll find out when we do what we came here to do." Lillian interrupted a little defensively, trying to protect the dragoness from further questioning.

"I don't mind the questions, Lillian. If used properly, like we are going to today, one of my 3 powers will allow me to not only see what you see in the Pool of Visions, but allow everyone else in the room to see it."

Spyro stared a moment in disbelief, his jaw dropping slightly.

"How is that possible?" Spyro said quietly, after his mind seemed to process it enough to speak, however, he still didn't understand it.

"Probably something to do with the overall power of her brain." Elijah said, causing others to turn to him in confusion. Elijah tried to clarify slightly, but on the wrong thing, and tapped the side of his head and said, "The thing inside your head?"

"Yes, we know what a brain is, but what does that have to do with her powers?" Spyro asked.

"Well, I don't think I'm qualified to tell you, or if I even want to tell you. That knowledge caused so many problems in my world, ended in scientists experimenting on people to find out."

"We wouldn't do that." Lillian said, but Elijah scoffed and said with a hint of sadness, "Yeah, at one point my race thought that, too."

"How do apes know about this?" the Grey Dragoness asked.

"I'm not an ape, I'm a human. I don't come from this world, mine is much different, and not in a better way."

"Ok, let's get back on track here." Spyro said, causing Elijah to remember why they were here, and he nodded in agreement.

Spyro walked up to the edge of the Pool in the back of the room, and the large, heavy doors at the entrance slammed closed.

Spyro stared at the water for a few moments, and the others also walked up to the edge, and watched Spyro expectantly. After about a minute, Elijah got bored, and began looking around the room. It was plain, with nothing to catch his attention, until he found himself looking into the Water.

"Why am I not seeing anything!" Spyro exclaimed, frustrated, but then the Grey Dragoness gasped, and said, "There is something appearing!"

"It's not mine…" Spyro said, confused, and they all looked at Elijah, who stared, wide-eyed, at the pool, with fear filling every inch of his body.

Then, the Dragoness closed her eyes, and said, "You should see it in a moment, but I must warn you, it is not in a way that your used to. It will affect your body, and you will see things, but you will not be able to speak, move, or otherwise interact in any way."

When she opened her eyes, Spyro heard a sort of pop in his ears, and a flash in his vision, almost like a blink of the eye, and he found himself on the ground.

 **Quick explanation, I'm only going to show how Spyro Reacted, but the other 2 are seeing the same thing. Also, I'll only mention that Spyro is not in control a few times in the beginning, but after that I won't, so just know that he has no control aside from his thoughts, of which will be his own, so he will not understand some things, but it is just a modern city, not some futuristic city.**

But not the floor of the Temple.

It was dirt, but not soft, brown dirt, this was hard and blackened by fire and heat. There were several small brassy metal things in front of him.

Someone yelled from above him, "Get your ass up! Come on, Private, get up!"

Someone was dragging him to his feet, and he found he no longer had the body of a dragon, but an apelike body, with a strange type of clothing that was covered in cuts, burns, and blood. Spyro couldn't move the body, but he felt everything. The weight of the armor, the pain, the exhaustion.

But the pain stood out the most.

As he got to his feet, his arms and legs came alive, moving with the one assisting him.

"We gota go!" Yelled the one behind him, and he grabbed the gun at his feet, and began running. As his head came up and looked around, Spyro was shocked.

They were in the middle of a massive city, with huge buildings that shinned like metal at some spots, but Spyro could tell it was glass, because the buildings were covered in broken windows. One building had collapsed, and lay in a pile of ruble.

He stood in the middle of a road made of an unknown material, surrounded by cars of various shapes and colors, and the only thing all of them had in common was bullet holes, but some had blown up and still burned.

He looked back once at the place they were at, and saw a body- no, half a body. It was split into two with blood everywhere. Another memory flashed briefly, it was of Elijah firing from behind a car with another soldier, when a grenade was thrown at them. The other soldier jumped on the grenade before it blew up, but the explosion was still enough to send Elijah to the ground.

But now, bullets were flying around them as they ran towards an upturned bus. As they rounded the edge of the bus, there were 8 other humans in similar clothing, thick armor, and Helmets, and most held similar weapons.

It hit Spyro then, that he was watching through Elijah's eyes, and he mentally slapped himself for not realizing something so obvious.

"Alright, we need to hold this street, and give the commander time to pull back!" Said the voice behind him, and the soldiers nodded, and with fear in their eyes, they prepared to run for cover. Spyro watched one of them approach him, and said, "You need medical attention! Get your ass back to camp, and get your side fixed up!"

"No, I'm fine! I'll stay here!" Spyro heard Elijah's voice say, and the Soldier reluctantly walked away.

The first soldier ran out from behind the bus, but he wasn't holding the normal weapon, he held a sort of tube over his shoulder. The soldier ran about 10 feet, and then dropped to one knee and stopped with a slide. He brought the weapon up, and fired it.

Amazed, Spyro saw a stream of smoke, as a rocket flew away, and hit a car down the street, causing it to explode.

"Ok, go!" Shouted one, and they all broke out running for cover. Three of them were hit within moments, but the remaining 7 made it. Elijah brought his gun up, and fired 4 shots, 2 of them hitting another soldier that was brave enough to advance.

The two sides traded fire for some 5 minutes before he heard a voice call, "Private Wilson!"

Elijah's head snapped towards the caller at that, making Spyro wonder why he responded to Wilson, as it was unknown to him that they used last names to address each other.

"Delta squad is Pinned down 2 blocks East of here! I can't afford to send anyone else, I need you go make your way there and support them!"

He nodded, and fired 3 more shots, hitting another soldier, then broke into a sprint for a side street. He made it there, and had been running for probably 4 minutes before Spyro felt like Elijah couldn't go further.

But he did.

Spyro could feel his utter exhaustion, but he kept running.

Then, over an earpiece, he heard, "Hey, Wilson, update on your assisted support, you've got one tank. He's the last member of the 74th armored division." (I'm sorry, but I don't really know of any armored divisions, so don't critique me on that)

"Ok." Elijah replied simply, as to conserve his breath.

He slowed as he approached the corner, and gunfire was heard. He peered around, and saw four men behind a car, one on the ground bleeding, with another treating him, and two more firing at soldiers down the street. Elijah caught the eye of the medic, and the medic waved him over.

When he came out from behind the wall, he fired a few times before reaching them.

"Is it just you?" The man asked, unimpressed.

"Well, we've got some armor support that should be here soon, but otherwise, I'm it. Where are the other 14 men in your team?"

"Dead!"

"Shit" Elijah said, then began firing. He looked down at the doctor, who had tapped him and now said, "We have to get this guy outa' here, and get him someone more qualified to treat him!"

"Aren't you the medic?"

"Hell no! I'm just the man who got chosen to treat him, our medic died!" The man said.

"We have to wait until that tank gets here! It'd be suicide to go now!"

Elijah peeked out from behind the car again, and saw something that intrigued him. Without a word, he began advancing on the enemy.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He heard, but a voice was then heard over the radio, "Your back-up is here!" then, the massive sound of a cannon firing, and an explosion. The sound of heavy gunfire filled the air, as the gunner of the M1 Abrams behind him opened fire with its .50 Cal. Machine gun.

Elijah continued to advance, with the tank slightly in front of him and to his left, however, the gunner on the top had to duck back inside after he started receiving to much fire. Not 5 seconds later, there was a small explosion above the tank, and all hell broke loose.

The tank veered to the right, nearly hitting Elijah. He watched as the tank continued off course, and hit a building. It crashed through the wall, and stopped about halfway inside.

It didn't move again.

He was shocked, and was frozen in place a few moments, until he realized the bullets had continued. He ran for cover, hiding behind a car about 20 feet away from the Tank.

He figured that because it didn't get hit directly, that it would still run, but was still confused as to why that happened.

He switched his radio to the channel Delta Team was on, and asked, "Any of you know how to drive a tank?"

"What the hell are you talking about?! What are you doing over there?!"

"Because I don't know about you guys, but I've heard it's easier than most think." He said, ignoring the question, and then ran towards the tank stuck in a wall. With the front half inside the building, he ran to the door, and pushed through it. As he entered, a shot was fired at him, missing by very little distance.

He quickly turned and prepared to fire, but stopped when he saw it was an American soldier, specifically a driver.

"Woah, same team! Same team!" Elijah yelled, and the Soldier dropped his pistol with a sigh, and he said, "Oh, shit. Sorry about that."

"It's fine, but what the hell happened?"

"Well, we forgot to close the hatch, and an airburst blew above us. I'm the only one that survived, but I was disoriented and lost control of the tank. It then hit the wall, but I didn't bother starting it again, as I have no crew."

"You do now."

"You know how to fight in a tank?" He asked doubtfully.

"No, but it really can't be that hard." He replied confidently.

The driver sighed, and said, "Alright, but I need more than just you."

"Can this move without others?" Elijah said, gesturing towards the tank in a wall.

"Yeah, but you need two people to load and fire it."

"Ok, you help me load the first shell, then drive this thing out onto the street where the others are waiting."

The man nodded, and within 2 minutes, the tank was started, one HE shell was loaded, and they were in reverse. As the tank came out from beneath the wall, there was a loud crash, momentarily stopping the battle around them. Elijah quickly found out how to rotate the cannon, and did so. As they came between the attackers and the team he was assisting, the barrel was as a right angle to the tank, facing the enemy.

He watched as they realized this, and dove for cover.

"Ha! Dumb bastards don't realize something!" Said the driver, and Elijah paused to asked, "And what might that be?"

The driver turned in his seat, and with an almost crazy smile, he yelled, "You can't hide from a tank!"

Elijah smiled, and fired the gun. He watched with satisfaction as the shell tore into one of the cars nearby, and caused an explosion that sent flaming bodies in every direction.

"Whoo!" Elijah yelled, and heard similar whoops from outside the tank. The driver quickly opened the hatch, and pocked his head out, yelling, "Hey! Get your asses in here!"

"We have wounded out here! He can't get in the tank!" One of them replied, and the Driver opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a bullet that ricocheted off the metal near his head. He turned angrily and annoyed and brought his pistol up and his voice turned slightly Scottish when he yelled, "Ey! Fuck off!" And fired 3 shots.

Another Hatch opened, and Elijah emerged and said, "We only need one of you! We can send a pick-up after we secure the area. But right now, no one can spare anyone, so if we go free up some soldiers, he can get some help."

The soldier saw the reasoning, and motioned to the other soldier and said, "Go with 'em."

The soldier nodded, and climbed up the tank, and climbed through the hatch. Elijah quickly nodded to the Soldier before disappearing as well. They closed and locked the hatches, and Elijah showed the man what to do. Within minutes, they were moving again, firing at a slow but effective rate.

They soon had them on the run, with both tank shells and insults right behind them.

A few whoops let loose of Elijah's mouth, and he said, "Alright, let's go see if we can't go help out those other teams!"

He saw nods and smiles, but heard the one soldier say quietly, "Taking orders from a Private…"

Spyro wondered what this meant, but dismissed the thought, knowing he would never know.

5 Minutes later, they turned the corner of the street Elijah was on when this whole thing began, and he saw that the 7 soldiers he left were all still there, but the other soldiers had advanced significantly and were beginning to overrun the soldiers.

An HE shell was already loaded, and Elijah didn't hesitate to unload it, sending a number of them flying out from behind cover, and all of them scrambling away from the tank.

"Ok, one more shell, then use the .50 up top! We might need them if we run into enemy armor." Called the driver, just after they finished loading another shell.

"Ok, let's make this one count!" Elijah said, looking at the aiming computer.

"Hey, the entire city is evacuated, right?" He asked suddenly, and the Driver replied, "Well, not all of it, but this area is clear. Why?"

There was no response, Elijah just fired, and they looked at their own cameras to see what he hit. They watched, as the final pillar of an old hotel blew up in a cloud of fire, dust and debris. Then, noting happened, and Elijah began worrying, mumbling, "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Fall!"

A loud crack was heard, and the 5 Story hotel leaned forward a bit. Then, another crash was heard, as it hit other support beams that still stood, and with a great shudder, it stopped moving.

It didn't fall.

"Damn it!" Elijah yelled, frustrated, then sighed and said, "So much for being creative."

"It's fine, just get up on that .50 and keep those guys off Echo Team!"

Elijah complied, knowing the driver did still outrank him, and opened the hatch. As he went to fire the gun, it clicked a few times, then stopped all together.

"Shit, it's jammed!"

The other soldier then came up behind him, and pushed him out of the way to begin working on fixing the gun. Elijah tried to cover the man, firing at any who dared stick their heads out. After a few of them tried, they realized it was a had idea to test his accuracy, as each time they did, someone died.

"Got it!" The soldier yelled, and not seconds after, a dozen of the hostiles opened fire on them. The man began firing the gun, not taking time to hand it over to Elijah. As the heavy gun fired, Elijah joined it with his own rifle, as did the other Marines behind him.

The driver got the tank moving again, and crossed the street.

Movement caught his eye. He looked to the right, and found it was coming from the hotel, but it wasn't falling. There was someone inside. There was only one woman, on the 2nd floor, and she was hitting the window and waving. From this distance, Elijah could see the fear in her features and the tears streaming down her face.

Without waiting, Elijah jumped off the tank, and ran towards the building. The woman, seeing him approach, opened the window.

"Help me!" She yelled, and Elijah called back, "I am! Just calm down! I'll get you out of there!"

He darted into the building, climbing around debris, looking for stairs.

"Of course the stairs are destroyed!" Elijah yelled when he found the stairwell full of collapsed stairs.

He came running back out, and looked up at the woman, who was still waiting.

"Ok, uh, your going to have to jump!" Elijah called, and the woman shook her head, but still began climbing out of the window. One leg out, and she had the other half way, and then a blood splatter on her chest, and a bullet hitting her, made her fall backwards, inside the building.

Elijah stared, shocked for a few seconds. Then, he shook his head, forcing thoughts out of his head, and began fighting again.

Not more than 15 seconds after he turned away, he heard a massive crash, and a sound like thunder. He turned quickly, and caught a glance of the Hotel falling as the final support gave way.

"Shit!" He yelled, then called into the radio, "Get the hell out of the way!"

None of the others heard him. He tried to get over to them, and pushed one out of the way of the building, but as it crashed down behind him it took the tank and every single other Marine in his team.

Aside the one he had with him now.

"Get up!" He yelled, tanking the Marine to his feet. They ran for a car, and Elijah made it. He turned to watch the other Marine, who was about 5 feet from the car when he took a bullet to the chest. The man fell, but landed behind the car, at Elijah's feet.

He immediately crouched, and began trying to help the man, holding his hand over the hole in his chest. The marine said nothing, but coughed blood, and looked at him. His eyes were filled in pain, but there was more Disappointment in his eyes. Elijah knew it was disappointment in himself, so he said, "You did good. You saved lots of people, don't let your last thoughts be of anger, think of your home. The homes of the people you just saved."

The soldier looked at him a moment, his eyes changing to only sadness and pain. A second later, his eyes turned happy, then Elijah watched the life fade out.

Elijah didn't move, and Spyro had a moment to think about the events that just happened.

That all happened so fast! So much, so loud! By the Ancestors, that Human Female was shot! She was innocent and helpless! I guess some Humans are still like the apes they look so much like.

Elijah then reached down to the dead man, and grabbed his Dog tags. Elijah then got up, and Spyro felt a new feeling rise from him.

Rage.

With a loud yell, he ran out from behind the car, and began firing at the soldiers, who scrambled for cover. Four went down before they could get in cover, but not even the few that made it to cover were safe. Elijah grabbed a grenade off his belt, and, after arming it, he threw it behind a car.

He kept advancing on the remaining 4 soldiers, who were still hiding behind cars. As he approached, one popped out, but was shot instantly. Another one went to punch him, but Elijah was faster, and hit him in the gut with his gun. The man staggered back, and Elijah shot the man.

The other two came at him from the left, and Elijah went to shoot, but the clip was empty. He threw it aside, and pushed the other man's barrel away, and threw a powerful right hook. The man's head snapped back, and his eyes glazed over before he crumbled into a heap. The last man had a knife drawn, and cut his forearm, then put distance between them.

Elijah quickly closed that distance, and caught the man's hand when he tried to stab him. He knocked the knife out of his hand, and spun quickly, hitting the man with his elbow. The man staggered and tripped, hitting a rock on the way down.

The man didn't move, but regardless, Elijah screamed and kicked the dead man once.

With a sigh, he walked around, searching for his radio. He ended up taking the radio off the dead Marine, Who's name was Daryl according to his Tags.

"Hello? Is anyone on this channel? Anyone?" He said, and got no response. He switched the frequency, and tried again, "Hello? Does anyone copy? Is anyone alive?" still no response. He flicked through all the frequencies he knew, but to no avail.

Finally, he remembered the three other soldiers he left behind when they took the tank, and switched to the proper channel, "Hello? Is anyone there? Is anyone alive?"

"Yeah, we're here, but not alone." Replied a quiet and cautious voice.

"Where are you?" Elijah asked.

"Who is this?" the voice asked, suspicion evident in his words.

"Elijah, I was the-"

"Oh, right, you're the kid who found the tank. You still got it?"

"No, it was crushed by a building." Elijah said, and the voice paused a few seconds.

"I'm not even going to ask how that happened. But it's for the better you don't have it."

"Why is that?" Elijah asked, and Spyro could feel Elijah's fear growing slightly.

"I don't know how, but the fuckers that attacked the city got the command camp 20 minutes ago, and they've been picking off the teams one at a time."

"Is that why I've not gotten any responses over the radio?"

"Yes. If they haven't responded…" he paused, then added gravely, "They're dead."

Shocked, Elijah asked, "W-wh-what? How? We had an entire Brigade out here!"

"I don't know! But we need to get out of here. Can you get to us?"

"Yeah, where are you?"

"About 30 feet down the road from where you left us, we're in the West Stairwell of the Green Apartment building."

"Got it." Elijah replied, then heard one last thing, "Oh, Elijah, be quiet, will ya?"

"It's not my style, but I'll try." Elijah said with a laugh, then moved into an Ally. He walked 15 feet, turned right, and saw it was a dead end.

However, it had a ladder.

He walked up to the ladder, and began climbing. He made it about 20 feet up the 35 foot ladder, when he heard voices, and they seemed to be speaking Spanish. Elijah didn't take Spanish, and hadn't a clue what they were saying, the only thing he cared about, was the fact that they were right below him.

He froze on the ladder, hoping not to draw attention.

The 3 soldiers walked to the wall where the passage ended, then talked with each other a few minutes. Elijah wasn't watching them when he suddenly heard shouts, and when he looked back, they were pointing at him.

Elijah scrambled up the last part of the ladder, with the constant fear that they would shoot him, but they didn't fire a single bullet. They followed him.

As he scrambled over the edge of the rail, he got to his feet and began running. The buildings were close here, the only obstacle being the fact that some were higher than others.

And that was the problem he faced right now.

The apartment building that blocked his path now, was a good 15 feet higher than the building he was on now. To Spyro's surprise, he raised his gun and fired twice at a window about 2 feet below his current level, putting 3 holes in it, and while it remained inside the frame, it was shattered.

He wasted no time in diving for the window. As he hit it, it fell apart, with glass shards cutting his face, arms, and body, he hit the floor inside. A moment later he was on his feet, and running down the hall towards another window.

He fired twice, then jumped at it, hitting it with his shoulder. He flew out, more glass cutting his arm and face. He hit the next roof with a thud and a bounce, and he got to his feet again. He took a moment to look around, and saw the Green Apartment Building.

He took off again, and had to jump off two more roofs, but now he had to make another window jump to get into the Building.

He did so, firing 3 shots into it and crashing through it. This time, however, he found the glass to be more painful, and it was much more difficult to get back up again. As he struggled, he heard distant shouts, and realized the soldiers weren't far behind him. He made his way to the stairwell, and then down it. As he came to the bottom, he heard, "Elijah? I thought you were going to be quiet?"

"Didn't suit me." Elijah replied, as the 3 soldiers came into view, with one still tending to the wounded man.

"You have a plan?" Elijah asked, and the man replied, "Yeah, not stay here! Now let's move!"

One picked up the wounded man, while the sergeant handed him another Magazine. They pushed the doors open, and made a slow pace down the sidewalk. It was quiet for a while, but soon, they ran into trouble.

A group of 5 soldiers burst out of a doorway, dragging 2 Women and one boy out onto the street, arms and feet flying. The group paused when they saw the 4 Marines, and they stared awkwardly at each other for a few seconds.

Then, the 5 Soldiers began yelling in Spanish and threw the 3 captives to the ground, and tried to raise their weapons. The 2 trained marines- well, one trained, and one skilled, dropped 4 of them before they even touched their guns. The last one darted into a building before they could shoot him, but rather than peruse, Elijah went to the 3 civilians.

"Are any of you hurt?" He asked, and all of them shook their heads 'no.' Elijah continued his sentence, "Ok, stay close, and stay quiet."

One of the women went over and helped carry the wounded Marine, and the other held onto the boy, who looked to be about 12, and followed Elijah and the Sergeant. They walked a few more blocks, and encountered the final obstacle, and it was the worst.

An almost entirely empty street, and an open field.

"How the hell are we going to cross that?" The Sergeant asked, and Elijah replied simply, "We'll have to create a distraction."

"Really? And what kind of distraction did you have in mind?"

"Do you think a Marine with seven 40mm Grenades and 12 clips of ammunition will be enough?" Elijah said, and the man looked at him doubtfully, and asked, "Where the hell did you get that kind of firepower?"

"Picked it up." He said, handing the man a bag filled with clips and grenades.

"I'll be damned. Wait, who's going to distract them?"

"Well, only 4 of us are soldiers, and of us 4, only 3 can walk. Plus, it's my stupid idea, so I'll be the one to die for it."

"No one under my command is going to die if I can help it!" The Sergeant said, but Elijah added, "And what if you can't help it?"

"I won't run while you run into the enemy, arms wide open!" The man said, but before Elijah could reply, gunshots broke out, and the Marine carrying the injured man fell, taking the assisting woman with him. As Elijah dropped to the ground, he also dropped the bag, and the Sergeant picked it up.

"Get these people out of here!" He yelled, and took off up the road before Elijah could Protest.

"Shit!" Elijah yelled, frustrated, then looked at the 3 civilians and one wounded Marine. He pointed at the two women, "Ok, I need you to carry him! You're going to get to the edge of the road, I'll cover you. Use the cars as cover." He looked at the younger boy and said quickly, "Follow them, make sure they stay in cover."

He then checked his ammo. He had one frag, and 2 and a half clips for his rifle, and 2 total for his M9. He then looked at the Civilians, who were making their way through the cars. He shifted his attention to the Sergeant, who was now about 50 feet down the road, and a complete Whirlwind of Violence with explosions and bullets.

Elijah smiled at the sight for a few moments before following the group out into the cars. They were half way across the street when a gunshot rang out, and one of the women fell, dragging the other 2 with her. As Elijah approached, he realized it wasn't the woman who was shot, it was the injured Marine, and the impact of the bullet threw the woman off balance.

Elijah quickly checked for a pulse, but found none, and urged the Civilians on, "He's dead, keep going!"

They made it to the edge, and another gunshot rang out, the woman on the left fell. Elijah dragged her behind a car, and both the woman and the boy rushed to her side, crying and talking to her. Meanwhile, Elijah was trying to find the source of the shots.

He muttered a curse when he didn't find it, and turned to the two remaining Civilians, "Ok, I'm sorry to do this, but we need to leave! We're going to make a break for the trees, don't stop running. Hold onto the boy, and don't stop! I'll try to keep you covered."

The woman reluctantly left the now dead lady's side, and grabbed the boy's hand. "Ok, Go!" Elijah said, then popped up and fired multiple shots in random directions before breaking into a run right behind them. He turned once, and emptied his clip.

Another gunshot.

The woman fell, and once again, dragged the boy down with her. Elijah quickly ran over, and picked up the boy, carrying him over his shoulder, and said to himself, "I am not loosing another one! Kid, you will survive this!"

He was 4 feet from the tree line when the last gunshot rang out. The bullet went through the kid over his shoulder, and into Elijah's left shoulder.

He fell to the ground, and yelled as the white-hot pain seared his nerves and numbed his mind.

As more of a reflex than thought, he slowly dragged himself and the boy into the trees. He pulled the boy into his lap, and looked at the boy.

He was already dead.

The soulless eyes stared up at the leaves above, and his chest was as unmoving as the tree he leaned against.

Elijah felt like weeping, just curling up and crying until the people that Hunted him finally caught him, and his pain would end. He knew it wouldn't actually end there, it would only end after he was tortured for hours on end, if not days.

He grunted, and used his right arm to push himself up, and he began to walk away. He stumbled a few times, cried out in pain a few other times, let loose a few curses here and there,

But he did not look back.

He didn't need to, the pictures of this day were forever frozen in his memory.

Spyro watched and felt every pain-staking moment, as Elijah wandered until well into the night before he stopped and made a fire. But next came something even worse.

Elijah heated a pair of Tweezers he had in his pack over the fire, and now was digging the bullet out of his shoulder.

The hot metal wasn't enough to char the skin, but it was enough to clean the metal of any Germs. Spyro felt every moment of his pain, as he dug into the hole on the upper left part of his back. He was feeling faint, but kept digging. A moment later, the tweezers hit another metal object, and Elijah grabbed onto it. He slowly pulled out, and just as it came out, Elijah screamed, not being able to hold it in any longer.

As he dropped the small, metal bullet into the grass, he collapsed by the fire, sleep beginning to overtake him.

Then, Elijah began to fight the sleep, and sat up. He pulled a bandage out, and slowly covered and wrapped the wound. When he finished, he collapsed again, unable to fight the exhaustion.

Everything went black.

Then a familiar feeling took over Spyro, as he found himself in control again. He opened his eyes, and brought his head around to see Lillian, the Green Dragoness/Guard, and the Grey Dragoness in the same state. But Elijah wasn't. He was sitting at the edge of the pool, with a number strange looking chains in his hand.

Spyro then recognized them as similar to the one he pulled off the dead Marine.

Strange, I didn't see him pull any more off, where did those come from? He thought, then stood up. Elijah looked at him, then put the Necklaces into a pocket and sniffed once, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

Woah, he was crying? Spyro thought, but Lillian voiced her thoughts a little more openly than Spyro, and asked frantic questions, "What was that? Why were you fighting those other Humans? How were you fighting them? Why did we feel all that? I'm so confused!"

Shocked, Elijah stared at her a moment before saying, "Uh, I don't really know what happened to you guys, you just kind of all fell asleep on the floor."

"We saw one of your memories." The grey dragoness said, then continued, "And by the looks of it, the same one you were just thinking about."

Slightly confused, Lillian looked at him, and her eyes turned both sad, pitiful, and caring, but Spyro was onto the next big question, "Why did we just see that?"

No one answered a for a few seconds, but soon Elijah said, "I think it was one of Ignitus' ways of looking at my past. And I don't need your pity, either." He said the last part looking at Lillian.

The Green Dragoness stepped up to speak now, her face a mixture of emotions, "What are you here to accomplish?"

"Why do you care?" Elijah asked, curious.

"Because I trust you, and I want to help you accomplish your task… by whatever means necessary."

"Oh…" Elijah said, unsure of how to reply. Lillian was the nest to speak, and her voice was no longer full of pity, but instead of something Elijah could only identify as a proud respect, "I'll do the same, and I speak on behalf of myself as well as the Guardians and this city."

"Well… thank you." Elijah said, still unsure of what else to say.

The Green Dragoness seemed to notice his uncertainty, and said, "There isn't anything else that needs to be said, aside from what we do now, of course."

Elijah nodded, and said, "Well, what's your name?"

"My name is Emily."

"Ok, Emily, we still have no idea why we're here."

"What?"

"We still don't know exactly why we're here, simple as that."

She frowned and said, "Well that makes it difficult to help you."

Elijah nodded, then, all of a sudden, his features darkened again, and he became very sad again. His voice was filled with pain and sorrow as he said, "I'd like to be alone for a while, or until I find out what I'm doing."

"Oh, sure. We have a room here in the Temple you can use." Lillian said kindly, but Elijah responded, "Uh, actually, I'll find a place to stay."

"Well, don't go to far from the Temple, the citizens are still a bit on edge with you." Emily said, and Elijah nodded before opening the door and walking out.

Shortly after he walked out, Lillian turned to Spyro and asked, "Is he going to be ok? He looked kind of… Broken."

Spyro looked worried as well, but then said, "Well, assuming we all saw and felt the same thing, I think we all know that he's been through so much, but he's still here… so, yeah, I think he'll pull through this."

Emily didn't seem content with the answer, and slipped out the door.

Elijah, meanwhile, had made his way outside, and was regretting it. The stares he received were hateful, and he couldn't stand it anymore, so he went back inside. He found a set of stairs, and walked up a few floors before stopping at what he counted out to be the fourth floor.

He quickly found a window, and tried to open it, but couldn't. Frustrated, he looked around, and found a door not 4 feet from the window. He sighed, and opened it to find a Balcony on the other side.

He walked out, and looked out across the city, and at the distant trees, and the blue skies. But part of the sky to the east wasn't blue, as it was blocked out by Clouds. They weren't violent, dark storm clouds, more light grey clouds that signified a good rain, with occasional thunder.

He turned and looked at the building, and noticed a ledge close to the top. An idea popped into his mind, and he began climbing the building, using Window Sills and cracks in the wall to transverse upwards. Within half an hour, he pulled himself up onto the ledge, and sat down, breathing heavily. The clouds were now beginning to pass over head, and a very light trickled started.

His breathing returned to normal, as did his heart beat, and a sudden calm came over him. The rain began to fall a little heavier now, and the calm increased.

Elijah loved rain.

A light, cool breeze brought the smell to his nose, the feeling of the rain hitting his body, the sound of the rain pattering around him, the occasional thunder.

He closed his eyes, absorbing every moment of the storm. Then, a voice startled him, "What're you doing up here?"

After jumping, he opened his eyes, and saw Emily, who was sitting next to him. When both were sitting, he only came up to her shoulder, but when standing, she only came to his chest. Rain was running off her green scales, making them gleam in the low light.

He realized she was awaiting his answer, so he started, "Uh, well I enjoy the rain and the quiet, so I came up here thinking I would be alone."

"Hmm, well, I don't think you should be alone right now. No one should be alone when they're sad." She said in a caring tone, confusing Elijah.

"Well, first off, I appreciate the concern, but I can take care of myself. Second, where are these sudden caring opinions coming from? You and Lillian both."

She hesitated, and then actually thought about the question, and the Dragoness blushed and she said, "Well, I can't say the same for Lillian… but…. I… uh…. Well…"

Something clicked in his mind, and he looked at her, wide eyed and said, "Oh… oh god, you…"

"You don't have to respond, I'll just leave now."

Elijah sighed, thinking this was a mistake, and said, "Wait."

She paused, and looked at him. The way she looked at him alone was enough to convince him otherwise.

"Yes?" She asked hopefully.

"No promises… but I'll give it a try." He said, and couldn't help but smile and laugh at her reaction, as she clung to him in a hug with her wings.

After a moment, she released him, and sat down next to him, laying across his lap. Unsure of what to do, he tentatively stroked her head a few times, and was reassured by quiet purrs from the Dragoness.

They laid there for the entire storm, and Elijah found it wasn't as bad as he initially thought it would be. Although he was slightly uncomfortable with it, he was warming up to the idea.

 _Maybe it won't be quite a bad thing_


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry to all of you who don't like this, but…. There is going to be a little Inter Species Romance in this one…. I'm also sorry if it seems like that went way to fast, but trust me! ALL WILL BE MADE CLEAR!

Trust me! You'll love all the twists I have planned for this story!

Elijah sat with Emily for nearly an hour, up until the rain passed, and was replaced with clear skies and bright sunlight. Emily was the one to break the silence, moving off him, she sat up and asked, "So, can you tell me more about that Memory?"

Elijah's first thought was to say, "No."

He saw her disappointment, and reconsidered. After a moment of thinking he sighed and said, "Well…. I guess I can. With you. Can't start a relationship with secrets, now can we?"

She smiled, and asked happily, "So, what are those necklaces you have in your pocket?"

"Well, we called them Dog-Tags, all soldiers had them. They identified a soldier, that way, if he died, you knew who it was, and could tell his or her family."

"Why did you keep them? And where did the other ones come from? We only saw you grab one."

"Well, where that Memory ended wasn't the end of my time there. I wandered that forest for 2 days before I was picked up and taken to a Temporary Base. In my time there, I made a few more friends." Elijah said, deciding the leave one part out.

She caught on immediately, and asked, "What are you not telling me? No secrets, remember?"

He sighed, defeated, and said, "That was where I met my wife."

He looked up and saw a confused look on her face, and realized the word Wife might be different here, so he said, "Uh, I think you would call it a mate?"

Her eyes widened, and she said, "Oh, you have a mate?"

"Had." He corrected, and saw her turn sad, more so than even he was. He also noticed the slightest hint of nervousness.

"It's ok, I've moved on for the most part. I'm not even sure we loved each other. When I think about it, about her, I only find joy in the things we did, not in her. Just like our wedding, we went and pulled a prank on our C.O. and we got him really good! We put firecrackers in his desk, and rigged them to blow when he opened it!" He was smiling, and staring off into the distance, but then he turned more neutral again, "I don't really know what love is, so I had to assume that's what it was… but, it doesn't matter. She's dead, and there's nothing I can do about it."

Emily was slightly surprised by the sudden, and very blunt, change in attitude.

"She died in the attack, just like my friends, and all because of my own mistake." By this point, he was fighting the tears that threatened to escape his eyes, and unable to make eye contact with her, but he continued, "They came out of no where… just, BAM! A dozen choppers are raining hell down on base. I was assigned to one of the few Anti-Aircraft guns we had, but I was so worried about screwing it up, that I screwed it up." He pulled the tags out of his pocket, and looked at each one before continuing, "I hesitated in my shot, and fired to late, and our armory went up, and as some of the bullets flew, one hit my closest friend, Peyton. The next to go was my wife, a rocket hit near her, but it was the Shrapnel that got her. The next was Trent, he was shot during the second wave, along with Dillan, who died shortly after him."

It was quiet a few moments before Emily responded, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, it doesn't bother me as much as it used to." He said, and couldn't help but feel happy at her next words, "Well, you'll forget all about it now, because now your not alone."

She then brought her head down to him, and nuzzled his cheek. He smiled, and returned the affection by wrapping his arms around her neck, just below her head, and pulled her head closer so he could kiss the top of her head.

"Alright, let's get going now, shall we?" Emily asked, but Elijah had one last question, "Wait, do we tell others of this?"

"Uh, yeah, why wouldn't we?"

"Oh, I don't know, they might not approve of it?"

"Who cares if they don't approve of it?" She asked, a slight reassuring tone in her voice.

"Good point. Let's get going, then." He said with a smile, then began to climb down. She jumped off, and hovered right behind him, and taunted him, "Your slow, come on!"

He didn't reply, but tried to descend faster. He slipped once, but was caught by Emily, who of course, teased him for it.

When he made it back down to the balcony, she landed next to him with a smile, and he rolled his eyes before walking inside. He made it probably half way down the hall when he heard a pained roar that echoed down the halls.

"What the hell was that?" He asked in an only mildly interested tone. His mild interest changed when she said, "That was a Dragon Battle cry! Something must be attacking her!"

He mumbled a few curses, and took off down the hall. Sure enough, sounds of battle were soon heard, and as Elijah came running into the room, he saw an impressive sight.

There were charred ape bodies everywhere, at least 2 dozen of them, and at least another dozen that had been cut up or stabbed by the sharp tail Lillian had. However, even having taken all these down, Lillian still lay in a pool of her own blood, with one, massive cut from her shoulder to nearly a foot further down her back.

Of course, she had other wounds, but none of them large enough to be considered fatal to a dragon her size.

3 Apes remained, and they stood over her. Elijah quickly drew his pistol, and fired 3 times, killing all three apes. He then ran towards Lillian to inspect her wounds. As he approached, she opened her eyes, and smiled at him. She went to say something, and tried to raise her head, but as Elijah reached her, he pushed her head back down and said, "Don't move or speak, conserve your energy."

Elijah then slung his backpack off, and set it down, pulling out the small amount of medical supplies he had. He mumbled more curses, and said to Emily, "I need you to go find me anything we can use to wrap this with! Curtains, Blankets, anything! Quickly!"

She nodded, and shot off down a hall. Elijah then started trying to stop the bleeding as much as possible, by taking a shirt out of his bag and pressing it to the wound. As he did so, she growled in pain, so Elijah said soothingly, "I know it hurts, I really do, but I promise I'll try to be as gentle as possible."

She did not respond, but let loose a shuddering sigh. Emily returned about 10 minutes later, dragging a massive curtain made of a soft, silky material.

He tore a large chunk off, but before putting it on, he said, "Ok, Lillian, this is going to hurt, but I need to apply some disinfectant to the wound."

Before he could do anything further, a voice stopped him, "By the Ancestors! What happened in here?"

He turned to see Spyro approaching, and he responded, "I don't know, I just came in, shot three apes, and now I'm trying to stop Lillian from bleeding to death."

He then turned back to Lillian without waiting for a response from Spyro, and asked, "Ok, are you ready?"

She nodded weakly and closed her eyes. Elijah brought out the medical disinfecting Spray from his medical kit, and he wondered if there was enough in the little bottle to get her entire wound, but then he started.

She roared in pain, but stayed somewhat still, but another set of voices interrupted him again, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?! SPYRO, STOP HIM!"

Elijah glanced over just in time to see Spyro flare out his wings as a sort of barrier, stopping Terrador's charge. He knew they were having a conversation, but was no longer listening and went back to work, now wrapping the cloth around her as best he could, then motioning for Emily to lift her up a bit so he could actually wrap it.

When he finished, he turned to see that Spyro and Terrador were still arguing, so Elijah stopped it by saying, "Ok, I've done as much as I can right now, get her a real doctor."

Terrador looked at him, surprised, and asked, "Wait, what?"

"All I can do without further supplies is disinfect the wound and stop the bleeding. She needs some of those healing crystals you guys use, to heal her more permanently." Elijah responded, slightly impatient.

When Terrador didn't move, Elijah said, "Fine! I'll go find them myself!" And he took a step away, but was stopped by Lillian, who said weakly, "Wait."

He turned back around, and walked back over, kneeling next to her head.

She opened her eyes, and looked at him before saying, "Thank you."

Elijah smiled, then patted her head a few times before saying softly, "I'm going to go get a healer, ok?"

She shook her head slightly, wincing in pain, but then said, "No, let someone else. Stay with me, please."

He glanced at Emily, who looked back, and reluctantly nodded before leaving the room. Elijah sat down next to her head, and stroked her head, ignoring the blood that now covered his arms, legs, and hands.

Soon, Spyro and Terrador left, leaving him alone with her. It was this way for nearly two hours.

By this point, she had regained enough energy to speak properly, and she said, "Thank you for saving me."

Slightly surprised by her voice, Elijah stumbled on his words, and he found himself nervous, "Oh, uh, yeah, no problem."

"But, why? I attacked you earlier, but yet now, I owe you my life."

"What? You don't owe me anything, I'd save you any day." He said, then quickly added, "Same with any of the others."

"You don't understand, do you?"

"Understand what?" He asked, confused.

"Well, a dragon isn't compelled to save another creature unless they love it in one way or another, as a friend, sibling… or something more, like a mate."

"Is this the same as your idea that scars were Attractive?" He joked, and got a smile from her, but no laugh, as it would hurt to do so. Then Elijah continued in a serious tone, "Well, I'm not a dragon."

She scoffed and said, "Good point, but the concept is similar."

Elijah realized what she was saying, and tried to think of how to get out of answering.

Luckily, the door opened seconds after, and a healer came in. He pushed Elijah out of the way, but not in a rough way, more gentle like. He allowed himself to be moved, and the healer inspected the wrapping around the wound.

The healer himself was a medium sized, male, blue dragon that stood about 8 feet tall when standing.

The dragon turned to Elijah, a surprised look on his face, "This is really well wrapped, but even so, it shouldn't have stopped the bleeding as much as it has. What did you do to make it stop?"

At first, Elijah was confused too, but then something clicked, and a memory flashed in his mind.

"The disinfecting Spray I used has a chemical that accelerates the Clotting process."

The dragon only became more confused, so he attempted to explain, "The disinfectant I used didn't just kill any infection forming and clean the wound, but there was another chemical that made her blood clot faster, and therefore stop the bleeding."

The dragon understood only the first part of it, and asked, "What do you mean, 'Clot'?"

"Oh, there are very small things in all of our blood that join together at the site of a cut and stops blood from leaving the body and- Wait! Now's not the time for a lesson in Biology! Heal her!"

The dragon nodded hastily, and said, "I need some time, leave the room, please."

Elijah complied, and walked out the door, closing it behind him with a hollow sounding thud. He stood in front of the door for a few moments, as his thoughts went back to her questions. Elijah wasn't stupid, he knew how to put two and two together, but her questions had him stumped.

It wasn't the answer he was confused on, he knew damn well What she was implying. He was confused as to what he would do with that answer.

He already had Emily, but then Lillian too? Lillian was an entirely different matter, as she was larger than Emily. When she stood, he came to her shoulder, but when Emily stood, she was about the same height.

For a brief moment, a thought crossed his mind, how would we end up mating? He shuddered at the thought, but then realized he didn't do so because of the thought of them mating, only because of the probability he would die…

He pushed the thoughts aside. Maybe I can talk to someone about it. He thought, then walked off down the hall.

He ended up lost.

As he wandered alone, he found himself to be hungry. As his stomach growled, and quite loudly, he set his backpack down and pulled out a strip of dried meat and started chewing on it. He kept walking down the halls, trying to find anyone, but soon found himself at a set of stairs.

However, these stairs went down, and there was no light at the bottom.

It was eerily silent, and the darkness loomed like a bottomless pit. Elijah cautiously pulled out his flashlight, and shinned it down. It went down probably 40 feet before there was a wall, and on this wall was an ominous looking metal door. The door was small, clearly not made for dragons to use, unlike the rest of the temple. He walked down, and approached the door. There was a handle, and he twisted it.

The door clicked open slightly, and as he pushed, it squeaked open. He looked around him, still needing the flashlight, and found himself in a long, stone tunnel.

He was about to close the door, but because of his 'cautious' nature, he checked the other side of the door. He sighed in relief at having done this, as there was no handle on the other side.

Relief was quickly replaced by suspicion, and he asked himself quietly, "Why isn't there a handle on this side?"

Next, he noticed claw marks.

Then, he wondered why he hadn't seen them before, as they were everywhere. Big, small, long, short, vertical, horizontal, on the walls, on the floor… absolutely everywhere.

Elijah drew his pistol, and after checking his clip, he continued down the tunnel. He found nothing but tunnel for what seemed like hours of walking, but soon found a wall.

He looked for another passage, but found none. Confused, he turned around to head back, but was met with another wall. Startled, he backed up to the other wall he found, but met no resistance, and almost fell.

As he regained his balance, he looked around, and saw a room of stone had replaced the stone wall. He also flicked off his flashlight, as this room was already lit up by a massive crystal in the middle of the room, about 12 feet wide, and 18 feet tall, and a Rhombus like shape.

It was purple.

Within the crystal, Elijah could see something. Mesmerized, he approached it, holstering his pistol, and clipping the flashlight back onto his backpack.

As he approached the large, glowing, purple, floating crystal, he was able to identify the thing inside the crystal.

It was a dragon.

It was just a little larger than Emily, and appeared to be purple in color, but Elijah figured it might have just been the Crystal that made it seem that way.

Then, he thought, maybe the dragon is making the crystal that color…

As he came up to it, he felt heat radiating off of it. However, not intense, painful heat. It was a welcoming heat, the kind you would hope for after a cold winter day.

Elijah reached up, and touched the crystal.

Everything went black.

•

•

He then heard a voice, an evil, and dark sounding voice, "Why thank you for freeing me, simple human. Now I can finally finish my mission and destroy Warfang and the rest of the world! But first, I think I'll start with the guardian's…."

Elijah opened his eyes as the voice faded out, and he found himself floating in the middle of an endless purple expanse. Elijah knew what had happened.

He just traded places with the dragon inside…. And unleashed hell apon the world.

He sighed, and closed his eyes, letting his thoughts wander. His thoughts mostly consisted of Emily and Lillian, and after what felt like days within that Crystal, he found himself liking the idea of them.

Although, who wouldn't? After spending days in that Crystal, Elijah was a little crazy, and literally anything seemed better. But, because that's what his thoughts kept going to, that is what he wanted.

Of course he tried to fight it on the first day, he didn't even know them! But, as time went on, and his mind began to slip, he made up personalities for them.

But he never opened his eyes.

Then, a sound interrupted his thinking. At first he tried to ignore it, but then realized it was more than a sound, something was in here with him.

He opened his eyes for the first time in days, and saw a small object about the size of a bowling ball, and resembled a ball of light. However, when he stared into this light, it didn't hurt his eyes or make his vision spotty like it would normally.

It floated in front of him, and shimmered slightly. Mesmerized by it, Elijah reached out to touch it. Then, he stopped himself, remembering the last time he did something like that. But as he pulled his hand away, the small light moved slightly, towards him, then up and back, and made a small noise that resembled a Bird chirp.

To Elijah, the action seemed reassuring in a way, almost like to was telling him, 'It's ok, touch me.'

Elijah reached out, and again, hesitated, leaving his fingers hovering inches away from the orb. He felt a heat coming off it, but it was welcoming. However, not the welcoming type he felt from the Crystal, this was different.

He just didn't know in what way.

He touched it.

He immediately felt something, almost like a rush of knowledge, and thoughts flowed into his mind. He now knew exactly what this orb was.

It told him that when the Evil Dragon Malefor escaped, he couldn't escape with all his powers, and so it remained here. And now Elijah could escape with these powers. However, within this information, he was asked to make a choice, leave with the powers of Ice, Poison, and Shadow, and have a dragon's body, or leave with none as a human.

Elijah liked the concept of being a dragon, but still preferred to be a human, as this was his form. He enjoyed his, even if comparably fragile, strong body, he had worked on it for so long. He enjoyed the way he did things in his body, running, breathing, talking.

Hell, he even enjoyed crapping with his body!

He had lived with this his entire life, and couldn't imagine having to do anything in another body.

So, he decided to look for option three, if there was one at all. Of course, it wasn't easy to find, but he got it. Option three had a few drawbacks, including no poison or Ice power, as that required a dragon's form to use. However, the Shadow was another story…

He could use that, but his mind would have to change a bit. He would have a dragon's mentality added to his own, as his human mind alone wouldn't process the new ability. He made his choice, and the orb split into 3 sections, and two floated away, but one stayed in front of him, and it changed from a bright light, to an orb that Elijah couldn't ever truly describe to anyone else. It was a shadow, but it floated, had no form, but was physically there, had no color, yet it absorbed all color.

He touched it, and it disappeared. Nothing happened.

Then, he heard a loud crack, and it was followed by another, and another. Then, he heard a shattering sound.

He was falling.

He hit the ground.

Elijah took a deep breath of cool, damp air, and looked around. He was no longer in a cave, but a large stone room with a metal door on one end. Confused, he stood up, and heard crunching beneath his feet. He looked down, and saw shards of Crystal all over the floor.

He walked up to the door, and tried to twist the handle, but it did not budge.

"Hey! Someone let me out of here!" He yelled, hitting the door with his fist. He heard sounds on the other side, like voices, and then sounds of running feet. However, these steps faded, as they were leaving the area, not coming towards the door.

With a sigh, Elijah pulled out his pistol, and fired at the handle twice. As the handle rolled around on the ground, the door swung open slightly, and Elijah pushed it open, just in time to see 15 Apes turn the corner in the hallway in front of him. They filled the hallway, 7 with spears making the front row, and a group of 8 Archers behind them. Elijah was at an extreme disadvantage in these tunnels, as he couldn't get around those spears.

Plus, he had nowhere to hide from those arrows.

As they came to the entrance, one ape called, "Drop the weapon! We outnumber you! You don't stand a chance!"

Elijah knew he had enough bullets to kill them, but what if there were more? He would have to find a more peaceful way out of this.

"And what happens if I do?"

"You'll be taken to the holding cells for Malefor to Question." The ape replied.

"And if I don't?"

"Well, first off, you will die, and second, your fellow guardians and friends will too." The ape said with a sneer.

What? They have my friends? He thought, but actually said, "Ok, I'll go along."

He holstered his pistol, and walked towards them, where one ape stepped forward, a piece of rope in hand. They pushed Elijah down the hall after binding his hands, a little to tight in Elijah's opinion, until he came to a massive room, easily the size of 2 football fields, and probably a hundred feet high.

Inside this room were a number of large cages, and within these cages, he saw first a few dragons and Cheetahs he didn't know, but soon, he saw the cages containing familiar faces. However, a number of them were still missing.

Dead or escaped, Elijah did not know, but Drake, Ron, Chandler, Gloria, Emily, and Aleah were not there. Of the faces he did see, Spyro, Cynder, Terrador, Cyril, Volteer, Tristan, Hunter, and Lillian he did recognize, and all their eyes were on him. They were split between 3 cages, and he was thrown into the one containing Lillian, Hunter, and Tristan.

"By the Ancestors, you're alive!" Lillian said, jumping at him and wrapping her wings around him and holding him to her chest. Elijah struggled to breath for a few moments, until she released him. As he caught his breath, Tristan approached him, a concerned look on his face.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Well, Spyro and I we-"

"No, they already told us about that, I mean, why did you go missing?"

"Uh, well, after helping Lillian-" but was interrupted and corrected, "Saved Lillian"

"Ok, after saving Lillian, I got lost, and ended up inside some sort of tunnel. I touched a crystal, apparently traded places with this Malefor Dragon, and got stuck in the Crystal for a few days." He said, but out of fear something would overhear them, he left out the new ability that he had yet to figure out.

"A few days? What're you talking about?" Tristan asked, confusing Elijah. Lillian explained it to him, "Elijah… you went missing almost 2 months ago."

His jaw dropped.

"Wh-wh-" He said, but could barely form the thought, let alone the word. When he finally composed himself enough to think properly, he asked, "What happened while I was gone? Where are the others?"

"Well, Aleah and that group escaped the attack, but Hunter and I were caught."

"And what about Emily?" He said, slightly worried, but hopeful as well. He saw looks of disgust replace their expressions, and Lillian told him, "Emily? That traitor is working with Malefor! She sold us out, she brought Malefor into the city, and Helped him take us all captive!"

Elijah was shocked a moment, then a brief second of disbelief flashed through him. That was quickly squished by the angry faces that told him it was true. He sighed heavily, and said, "Well, so much for giving a relationship a try."

"What? A relationship? You wanted to become her mate?" Lillian said in disbelief and jealousy.

"What? No! You see, humans have different guidelines for relationships. We start with dating, in which we engage in random activities such as dinner, that way we can get to know each other, and figure out if we really like each other. And if we do, then we take the next step."

She seemed to relax a little, but still had something on her mind.

He was going to ask her what it was, but a massive door was swung open on the other side of the room, and a loud voice was heard, "Where is he!?"

A few voices were heard, and within moments, a massive, Purple Dragon came into sight. The dragon was similar to Spyro, the differences being his Darker scales and his eyes.

"Hello, Elijah. How in the world did you get out of there?" He asked, but didn't let him reply, and said, "No matter, come along, small human."

Elijah cautiously walked out of the cage, and towards the dragon, who stood at least twice his height. Without a word, the Dragon turned and started walking, and Elijah followed. Both were silent for a few minutes of walking, but soon Elijah asked, "Where are we going?"

"To catch a view." The dragon replied, and Elijah figured he would just have to wait and see. While they walked, Elijah looked for any way he could get out, and while doing so, he saw Emily down one hallway. She looked at him, and her eyes went wide, surprise, shock, fear, and sadness in her features. Elijah stared at her blankly for a few moments, then his expression turned to disgust as he remembered what she did. Her face fell in shame, and Elijah looked away.

Malefor laughed evily and said tauntingly, "Don't take her betrayal personally, I forced her to do it." He then whispered to Elijah, "She thinks I have her family…. But they died long ago…. And, quite Ironically doing the same thing you are."

Elijah didn't respond.

They soon came to a door, and the Dragon opened it to reveal I balcony. As Elijah walked out, it was dark outside, but no stars shone. As he looked down, he saw thousands of campfires, and three times that many tents, and each tent was home to orcs, apes, Hounds, everything Elijah had trained to fight.

"Oh my god…" Elijah mumbled, and the Dragon Chuckled evily and said, "Yes, quite impressive, isn't it?"

Elijah didn't respond to the question, and instead asked his own, "What do you want with me?"

"I want you to help me."

"Why would I help you to destroy the world that I currently live on?"

"Oh, no, my goals have changed since then! You see, I could have destroyed it weeks ago! But I want to rule over it now, not destroy it. And you can help me… even have your own part to rule as your own!"

"And what of my friends?"

"Well, most of them have to be destroyed, but as for Emily… you two can live together happily for the rest of your lives."

Elijah scoffed, and said, "What? Under your rule? Never doing anything but sitting around in fear that you might one day come down and kill me?"

"Is it not easier than trying to beat me?" The dragon said, and Elijah thought a moment, but after a few seconds, Elijah turned away and leaned on the rail. He said slowly, "Well, I have a quick quote for you, it comes from a man I can't remember the name of, but it goes like this, 'You can't fall if you don't climb.'" This gave Malefor a false sense of victory, thinking that Elijah had accepted. But, he was pushed off that hope when Elijah continued, "'But there's no joy in living your whole life on the ground'"

With that, Malefor growled, and said, "Fine, you'll die in a cell, just like the rest of them. And escape isn't possible…. The cages are bound by Magic, and are unbreakable. I even went so far as to get one specially for Cynder, and now she can't use her Shadow Element and slip out. Face it, you've lost."

A few minutes later, Elijah was back in the Cell, but with a number of cuts and a bloody nose.

"What did they do you?" Lillian asked, concerned, but Elijah, who was looking up and pinching his nose, said with a laugh, "Ha! You should see the other guy!"

He received a few chuckles from the cages around him, but a new voice was heard, "Elijah? What're you doing here? He promised you'd be safe in that Crystal!"

"Why? So you can betray me anymore than you already have?" He said bluntly, no emotion but anger and disappointment. She looked away a moment in shame, and Elijah waited her response.

"I'm sorry… but he has my family, and for a while, he had you too. He threatened to kill you if I didn't help him. But he promised if I did, you would stay safely in the Crystal until this whole thing ends, along with my family!"

Now Elijah couldn't help but feel empathy for her, as she turned away again and said, "I couldn't let you die…" and a tear fell from her eye.

Elijah sighed heavily and said slowly, "Emily…. Your family is dead."

She looked at him and said, "What? No! They're alive!"

Elijah shook his head, but said nothing afterwards. She looked at him in horror, and more tears formed in her eyes. She then whispered, "Then I did all this for nothing? When I could so easily have just taken you out of the Crystal?"

Elijah didn't respond, and fought the urge to feel bad for her. Then, Cynder spoke, "Your not the first one he has corrupted."

Realization came across all their faces, except Elijah's, and while they all seemed untrusting of her, they seemed a little more understanding.

"Wait, why am I the only one who doesn't know what that means?"

"I'll tell you later." Cynder said.

"Yes, later. I have to go before I am found." Emily said sadly, and before Elijah could tell her otherwise, she ran off. Elijah turned and looked at Lillian, who still had a concerned look, but now some jelousy was there too. She sighed, and said, "Come here and let me clean you off."

"Excuse me? I don't need to be cleaned, first off, and second, how in the hell would I get a shower in this place?"

"I wasn't referring to the use of water." She said in a Matter-of-Fact tone, and Elijah's eyes went wide. She started towards him, and he said, "No no no no no! You're not doing that!"

She smiled evily, and said, "Oh? And who is going to stop me from doing so?"

He looked at Hunter and Tristan, who were smiling and suppressing laughs. No help there, he realized. Then, he realized he had no help anywhere.

"Oh shit…" He whispered, and tried to dodge her pounce, but she caught him with her wings, bringing him to the ground. He sighed, defeated, and didn't try to fight her as she pulled him closer.

However, when she licked him the first time, he started struggling again. Her tounge was slimy and rough, and her saliva stuck to him. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, though, as her breath could have been bad, but wasn't.

It sort of smelt like burned meat…

She licked the blood off his face, arms, legs, clothing and skin alike. When she finished, she released him, and he scrambled away, stumbling a few times, and he received a few laughs from onlookers.

Annoyed and embarrassed, he went to the opposite side of the cage, which was about 30 feet by 35 feet, and sat down facing the other direction. Lillian felt bad for him, and gave the onlookers a glare, and they all stopped smiling and looked away. She walked over to him, and sat down in front of him. She licked him again, but this time in a gesture of affection, and laid her head down in front of him. Elijah tried to stay upset, but when he looked at her, he saw that she truly was sorry. He smiled slightly, and patted her snout a few times before leaning down to kiss her between the eyes. She purred softly, but stopped when Elijah pulled away from her.

"Ok, I have a plan to get out of here, but I need some time. Do you guardians have some sort of code you can use?" He asked, hoping against hope that the answer was yes. She hesitated a moment, but then raised her head and nodded. Elijah then whispered, "Ok, I need you to tell Terrador to ask Cynder how she uses her Shadow Element, and if she can teach me."

Her eyes went wide, then a devious smile reached her features. He watched as she made a few dozen carefully made movements, and Terrador Nodded before whispering something to Cynder. After a moment, she whispered something back, and so Terrador made more movements. Lillian then whispered to Elijah, "She says that you need to picture a shadow, and then focus on it. Imagine it making your movements, but also that you are making it move."

Elijah tried to do this. He felt nothing, but kept trying to picture himself as seeping into the shadows and slipping out of the cage.

Frustrated, he growled and opened his eyes. His eyes went wide, and he stopped the growl, as he found he was outside the cage. For the second time today, every eye was on him. Elijah smiled broadly and said,

"Who's ready to get out of here?"

It took nearly 10 minutes to get everyone out and now to make a plan.

"Ugh, this isn't going to work without a map of some sort!" Elijah said, frustrated after the Third attempt to make a plan.

"Hey! What the hell is going on here?!" Yelled a gruff voice behind them, "GUAR-" Called the voice, but was cut off with a strange sound and a gurgle. Elijah turned around, pistol drawn, to see an ape guard with a Sharp, Green tail sticking out of his chest, and a Familiar Green Dragoness behind it.

At first, his reaction was happy, but then he remembered, and his anger flared slightly, although less so because of what she did. As she ripped her tail out of the ape with a terrible schlick sound, it fell forward, and they saw Emily's face.

Apparently Elijah was the only one to see the sorrow, regret, and pain on her face, because he heard an angry growl come from the group behind him. They began to surge around him, but he stopped them by putting his arm out and saying, "No."

They didn't move, and Elijah walked towards her, ignoring the confused looks he was getting from his friends. As he approached her, he had an understanding and sad look, but also a stern and accusing hint to his features. She had a shameful look about her posture, and her face was filled with sadness and Regret, but also a hint of a new purpose.

The part that told him this was the new sparkle in her eyes.

He stopped 3 feet infront of her, and said nothing. There was so much that needed to be said, but no way to say it. Her head dropped, and she said, "I'm sorry."

Elijah heard all the truth in her voice, as well as the sadness, and decided to try some thing. He took a step further, and knelt down. He put a hand on her chin, and pushed her snout up while also standing up himself. When their eyes were level, he pulled his hand away from the bottom of her snout, and placed it on her cheek.

"I didn't know what the deal with Cynder is, but I can tell you from personal experiences you aren't the first one to do something bad for their friends and family. After that base attack… I went searching for the people that did it, and when I found them…. I found their families…." He was struggling to speak, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Her own eyes went wide as she realized what he had done. Elijah sniffled, and wiped the tears away before stepping back.

"I'll make it up to you. I'm going to get you guys out of here." She said confidently, and her eyes sparked in excitement.

He smiled, and said, "Ok, can you get the everyone out?"

"I can do more than that, I can get them weapons."

"Good." He turned to the group behind him, and he said, "Ok, she's going to get us weapons, and then get us out."

"Why should we trust her?" Asked someone.

"Because I trust her." He said confidently, then added before they could Protest more, "Alright, let's get going!"

"Your not going ANYWHERE!" Boomed a deep voice, and Elijah had to avoid a bolt of lightning. A massive, purple dragon emerged, and he had a Sinister grin on his face, and he laughed evily.

Elijah took action immediately, calling, "Follow Emily, and get out of here!" He said, pointing at the group of civilians and guards, then pointing at the guardians, Spyro, and Cynder, "You guys! We're going to keep him busy!"

"Are you, now?" Malefor said tauntingly.

Spyro charged the dragon, using a Comet Dash to close the distance, while Cynder shrunk into the shadows. Elijah walked over to the dead ape, and picked up his sword.

It was remarkably well built, light but strong, and razor sharp on both edges. It was probably almost 4 feet long, and probably 2 and a half inches wide at the hilt, and it gleamed in the low torch light. Over all, it was a simple build, but it was made to fight, not show off.

Kind of like Elijah.

He smiled, and a voice brought him out of his thoughts, "If your done examining your shinny new sword, would you mind joining following?"

He saw Hunter had said it, and he was going with Emily and the others.

"No, I'm staying here to fight that Purple son-of-a-Bitch!"

"What? No your not, your not strong enough to fight him!" Said Emily, who was standing not far away.

"What? I'm the only one who can beat him! Besides, I have a few things to get back at him for."

"No, your coming with us." Emily ordered, but Elijah shook his head and replied, "No, I'm not. I'll see you back in Warfang. Now go!"

He didn't wait for a response, and turned around, running towards the fight.

In the time he spent admiring the sword and arguing, Malefor had held his ground, despite being attacked by 6 Dragons.

That was all about to change, as Elijah entered the fight.

He ran at the dragon, and was surprised to find that the dragon was much more observant than he expected, and had to jump over a tail swipe. As he came within striking distance, he narrowly avoided a claw aimed at his throat, and he struck out at the paw that had swiped past him. He caught Malefor on the wrist, but it wasn't a clean cut, just a scratch. Regardless, it still hurt the dragon, and Elijah soon noticed a slight limp.

He couldn't admire his work for long, as the dragon had just knocked down Terrador. The dragon did not get back up.

He certainly tried, but having 2 Broken legs and wings in even worse condition, he couldn't even move. The next to fall was Cyril, who had been flying above the battle firing Ice Spike with astonishing accuracy, but was hit hard by one of Malefor's fireballs.

Seeing her downed allies, Lillian rushed over to them, as did Volteer, leaving Spyro, Cynder and Elijah to fight him. Elijah took the lead now, angered by seeing his friends fall. Spyro and Cynder, who had already taken a beating from the relentless attacks, reluctantly let him.

"Elijah! Stay back! He's much stronger than all of us, why would you be able to defeat him?" Lillian said, unintentionally insulting him. Elijah did not respond, but instead allowed a new feeling to take over, similar to the one he felt while fighting off the apes in the town.

This time, however, he had a dragon's mentality added to his own, increasing the energy he got from the rush of adrenaline. It was a rush of energy, and everything he did sped up, while everything else seemed to slow down.

 _Is this how dragons fight?_ He thought, then smiled and began his own barrage of attacks on the dragon.

He charged the dragon, and saw the dragon's tail coming at him low. He jumped over it, and after predicting the dragon's tactic, he moved the sword down, cutting clean through his tail, about a foot behind the sharp tip.

The dragon roared in pain, and blood went everywhere as it gushed from the wound. Elijah kept running towards him, and ducked under a paw as it swiped at him. As he passed under it, he brought his sword up again and cut the inside of Malefor's leg. Then, continuing the attack, he quickly sliced at the dragon's stomach and other leg.

Enraged and injured, the dragon kicked at him with his rear legs, catching Elijah's Left shoulder with a claw. Elijah cried out, and staggered out from beneath the dragon, who then swiped with one massive paw.

But Elijah wasn't done yet.

He quickly bought the sword out, pointed towards the paw, and impaled the paw. As Malefor roared in pain, Elijah left the sword stuck here, and drew his knife. He ran towards the distracted Malefor. He jumped at him, and stuck his knife into the dragon's side, and used it as a grip to quickly swing up onto his back. The dragon began using his wings, batting at him with them. One devastating blow caught Elijah on the chin, and his knees crumpled beneath him. But, he held on with his hands, despite the nausea, spotted vision, and unbearable headache.

He pulled himself up, and used his knife to stab at the dragon's throat.

But he missed.

His vision was blurry and spotted, and he couldn't see right, so he missed. He also missed the other wing that came at him, knocking him from the dragon's back. He hit the ground With a thud, and went unconscious.

Lillian watched the impressive display, as did Volteer, but Volteer had a new plan.

"Lillian, get him out of here, and take him somewhere safe! He needs to advance his powers and skill to defeat him."

"What about you guys?" She asked, but he shook his head and said, "No! Just take him and go!"

Then, Spyro came up and said, "I agree, take him and get out of here! Go to the mountains!"

Reluctantly, she sighed, and ran over to Elijah's limp body, and picked him up with her wings before setting him on her back. She then took off running towards the door. Malefor was to busy fighting Volteer, Spyro, and Cynder to notice them leave, and they met no resistance.

That is, until she ran into Emily again.

"Ok, the Civilians and other guards are out and headed to the City again. Where are you going?"

She sighed and said, "Look, I don't want to say this, but I need your help getting Elijah out of here and past guards."

"Woah, that's pretty trusting of you. Thanks for the-" but was cut off by Lillian, "This isn't me trusting you, it will be a long time before that happens again. This is me being forced to rely on you because I don't know how to get out and past the guards."

She looked a little ashamed, but nodded and said, "Ok, follow me."

They ran for nearly 20 minutes, running into 4 total apes, but killing each quickly. Now, they were on a Balcony, and Emily said, "We have to fly out, your too big to use the tunnel."

"Won't I be seen?" She asked, and Emily responded, "Of course, but your with me, so they won't stop us."

"Us? Your not coming." She said bluntly, but Emily convinced her by saying, "Well, if I'm not with you, they'll stop you, and attack you. How well can you fight with a human in your claws?"

She sighed and nodded, and after moving Elijah to her paws so she could fly, she took off, with Emily following.

Lillian practically held her breath as she flew over the area, and she noticed curious stares. She let out this breath when she finally passed over them, and within minutes they were on the horizon, miles away with no signs of pursuit.

They flew for hours on end, and they flew hard, only landing when absolutely necessary. Elijah didn't wake up, however, and it was scaring the two. Emily offered to carry him, but Lillian's response was always no. Her reasoning changed, however, from the fact she didn't trust her, to the fact that she wasn't big enough to carry him.

On the most recent rest, Lillian told her, "I know you want to prove yourself loyal, but now is not the time, right now I need you to shut up and let me focus on flying."

Emily didn't respond to her, but also didn't ask anything again.

Elijah woke up nearly two days later, in a cave. Elijah didn't open his eyes, but instead studied everything around him.

He heard at least two other creatures in the room with him, as he could hear their heavy breathing. He was also covered, but not with cloths. Aside from the fur blanket he had around him, he wore nothing, and that's not what worried him.

What worried him, was the fact that he just cracked his eye open enough to see that Lillian and Emily were with him. And 'with' was an understatement.

They were both curled up next to him, one on each side, and Emily's head was on his bare Chest, and Lillian's head was right next to his, with her snout touching his ear.

He tried to think of a way out, but after a few minutes of thinking about it, he realized he didn't want to get out. He enjoyed the attention, even if there was an immediate danger that one could roll over and kill him.

When he decided it was time to wake up fully and get some answers to the questions he had, he used one hand to brush the side of Lillian's snout. As her eyes fluttered open, she quickly jumped up, waking Emily.

"By the Ancestors! You finally awake!" She said, excited.

"Yeah, I'm awake. How long was I out?"

"2 days, almost 3." Emily responded.

"Wait, why are we here? Where are we? What happened to Malefor?" He asked, frantic, after the memories came back to him.

Their nervous faces did not help to settle the pit he felt growing in his stomach, and Lillian said, "Well… after you went out, Volteer sent us to keep you safe up here, until your ready to beat him completely. Train with your new power, your sword, stuff like that." Then Emily added, "And how did you get that power, by the way?"

Elijah sighed, and before saying, "First, can I get my cloths back?"

 **Sorry, it's kind of short compared to the last chapter, but I thought that was a good place to stop. I'm also sorry for the relatively long wait, but I had to revise and rewrite multiple times to make it just right, although I still feel like it went WAY to fast. I think I'll try to keep a pace after this one, and I there won't be any chapters like this again.**

 **But either way, tell me what you think of it!**

 **A quick thank to The Silent Insomniac, one of my favorite writers and follower of this story, as it was he who accepted to help, and while he doesn't know he helped, You did! THANK YOU!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm sorry for the long wait, I've had a very busy month here with research projects, tests, SAT's, and all sorts of other bullshit!**

 **Ok, you may notice I updated my rating and gave reasons for why it is M. When I say sexual references, I mean sex jokes, talking about it, considering it between characters, But I WILL NOT be putting any actual sex into this story! It's also for language, because i felt it was kind of wrong to put 'fuck' into a story and consider it a Teen rated story, because I still know adults that don't like that language! Let alone teens… Anyways, the beginning of this chapter is more of a filler, just advancing relations and story line.**

 **Basically, Elijah, Lillian, and Emily are going to get REAL close to each other, they'll find answers, they'll cuddle a bunch, they'll talk, they'll ague, they'll train… the whole 9 yards!**

 **Also, things might get a little unbelievable in this one, but trust me, I've done my homework on this, and there is a chance something like what happens later could happen, even if unlikely.**

"Ok, so which one of you was the one who took my cloths off the begin with?" Elijah asked, curiously, as he pulled his pants up over his underwear, but he quickly added, "And why?"

They shared a look, then looked back at him at the same time, but only Lillian replied, "Well, both of us had to contribute to that one, and as for why… you were cold…" Emily finished her sentence, "I cuddled with you to keep you warm."

"Oh…." Elijah replied, unsure of what to say. Then, a question came to mind, "When did you two become such good friends?"

Lillian was the one to respond, "Well, while you were out, things were pretty hard up here. I didn't want too leave you with her to go find food, but neither did I trust her to go out on her own to find food, just in case she brought back apes. So, I decided that I'd take you with me, as well as her. We ran into an ape ambush, and she saved my life as well as yours. More than that, over the last day, I've realized that she cares for you just as much as I."

Confused as to why there was no jealousy in her voice, and careful not to anger her, he asked, "And your ok with that…. Why?"

They shared a look again, and smiled before looking back and Lillian replied again, "Well, from what we've seen, you care for us both more or less equally, and we've talked it over, and found we're both ok with it. It's not unheard of for a Dragon to take two mates."

Elijah sighed, and couldn't keep the thought of this not ending well from entering his mind.

After a few moments he realized they were waiting for him to respond, and Emily asked, "Well? Are you ok with this?"

Elijah hesitated first, and said uncertainly, "Well, I'm not a dragon…" and their faces fell in disappointment, making him feel bad, So he reconsidered. After a few minutes thought, he sighed, and said with a smile, "But… I guess I'm in the Dragon Realms, so I had better start acting more like one."

Their hopes soared, but they managed to keep it in check, and Lillian asked cautiously, "So... will you-" but was cut off by Elijah, who yelled enthusiastically, "YES!"

Elijah thought he would regret having said that, when they jumped at him, tackling him. Well, Emily tackled him, Lillian was to big to have done that. Either way, Emily was still very heavy, easily twice maybe even three times Elijah's weight. While it still hurt him, he did notice she was taking extra care not to break any of his bones or hurt him to badly.

They then both began licking his face like puppies…. Massive puppies with sharp teeth, claws, and magic. He began to regret it a little as they licked his face, and he tried to push their faces away from him. When they finally calmed down and stopped, he sat up and wiped a thick layer of their saliva off his face. They giggled at him, and he angrily flicked some off his fingers and into their faces. They flinched, and wiped it off before resuming their giggles.

"Ok, I think we need some rules about this relationship." Elijah said commandingly. So far, in his prior knowledge of animals, and his experience here in the Dragon Realms had told him there was a Dominant one in a relationship, and a submissive one.

"I don't know for sure how dragons find out the dominant one in a relationship, but-" he was cut off by Lillian who said excited, "Oh! We have a big fight and who ever wins is the dominant one, it's really fun!"

Before Elijah could continue, Emily and Lillian broke off from the topic Elijah started on, and began talking about the fight, "Would you and I fight together, since we're both Female?"

"I don't know, maybe. That would be fun, wouldn't it?"

"Think, if Elijah lost, he'd have to-"

"Stop it!" Elijah yelled, and waited until he had their attention again before continuing, "I'm not going to be the Submissive one in this! Don't you see? If you got rough with me one night, all because I have to sit there and take it, You could very well kill me! I'm not as big or resistant as you are."

But they wouldn't budge, and Lillian said, "Well, you can fight to be the Dominant one during our mating fight. Until then, we're equal."

"No, until then, and even after then, you listen to me. Especially so during a time like this." Elijah said stubbornly.

"Oh, we know you have a better mind for times like these, and we listen to you now, but afterwards, you had better win if you want us."

Elijah sighed, deciding this was as much ground as he would make.

"Quit while your ahead, Elijah." He mumbled to himself, catching Lillian's attention.

"What was that?" She asked, but Elijah just waved dismissively and said, "Nothing, just a human saying. Where is my armor and weapons? And my pack? I swear I had them in the cages, the apes didn't take it."

"Oh, we went through your bag a little." Emily said like it wasn't anything big. Elijah felt a little anger, but he pushed it down and asked, "Where is it?"

"In the back of the cave."

Elijah nodded, and walked back into the dark cave until he found his bag and other gear all sprawled out on the floor. Annoyed, he gathered everything and brought it back to the front of the cave where the light was, and began trying to repack everything. To his further annoyance, they asked him about everything he put in.

"What's that?"

"A bag of dried meat, called Beef Jerky. And no, you can't have any."

"What's that?"

"My binoculars. They let me see longer distances. Don't ask how."

"What are those things?"

"My eating utensils."

"And that?"

"Canteen."

"And those?"

"Knife sharpeners."

"And that?"

"A compass, it tells me the directions."

"What's that?"

"A box of matches."

"And that?"

"A fold up shovel."

"And that?"

"A watch."

"And that?"

"An extra change of cloths. Why are they a wet?"

"You don't wana' know. What is that?"

"A book."

"What's in it?"

"A story about an Elite group of warriors that protected A king and his kingdom."

"What's that thing?"

"A flashlight. Please no more questions."

He finished packing his gear, and then checked the condition of his armor, which he had been wearing for years and had seen a lot of use, but no bullets yet. It still seemed in tact, as was his helmet, but his kneepads were trashed as well as his goggles, but they weren't that important.

"What's that?" Lillian asked, poking at the armor plating and helmet.

"Its armor. It protects me from just about anything, even bullets. But, it only stops a certain amount before it breaks."

"It's not made of metal like normal armor."

"That's because it's not the same type, this is more advanced, and is much stronger while also much lighter than metal."

She nodded, but said nothing more.

"Ok, so now can you tell us the story of how you got your power?"

"There isn't much to tell… I really don't remember most of it. I just remember floating in nothing, and thinking. Thinking about you two. And then an orb found me, and when I touched it, it gave me so much information that my mind didn't know what to do with it. What I remember of this information, is that Malefor is an evil dragon, and he is very strong. However, according to the orb, he left some of his powers behind in that Crystal, including his Ice, Shadow, and Poison."

He then decided to twist his story a little, as to not let them know he passed up on being a dragon, and told them, "And because I was able to get out, but I don't know how I did so, I was allowed to take one with me. I chose Shadow. But, the orb also gave me the knowledge that if I took one, I would have a dragon's mentality added to my own, because my human mind alone wouldn't comprehend the power."

They thought about it for a few seconds before Emily asked, "So now your more dragon than human?"

"No, the Dragon part was merely added to my own, I still have a human mind, but now some of my thoughts are dragon-like."

"But not all of them?" Lillian asked, and Elijah nodded his head, she continued, "That explains why your ok with having us as mates, the Dragon part of you wants us, but the Human part doesn't want you to do the mating Fight, because it's scared."

"No… well, yes, it's the Human part of me that doesn't want to do it, but not for that reason."

"Well, then why?"

"Well, it's in my nature. You see, we humans don't fight _against_ each other to prove we love each other, we fight _for_ each other. I cannot and will not ever be able to imagine hurting either one of you, and I would die before I saw one of you harmed. And I would never expect you to do the same, but I know you will anyways."

"Got that right! Someone has to make sure you don't hurt yourself!" Lillian said in a cocky tone.

Elijah sighed, but then swayed slightly, almost loosing his balance, as a wave of nausea came over him. He caught himself, and he looked up expecting to see their worried faces, but found his vision to be blurred. Surprised and a little scared, his legs became wobbly, and he fell sideways. Emily managed to catch him before he hit the stone, and laid him down carefully. The two dragonesses stood over him, fear in every feature of their bodies.

However, Elijah couldn't see this, and instead was going through what he imagined hell would be like.

His vision was almost completely faded now, and the Nausea had came back twice the severity. His ears rang, and his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. Suddenly, he felt hot. His blood felt like it was literally boiling, and he felt his body begin to sweat profusely. He felt his arm twitch, but what felt like a twitch was actually him frantically waving his arm around.

But he didn't know that.

It was all entirely unpleasant and scary, but there was no pain at first. But then, he felt a terrible, terrible pain. It was similar to when he used that Healing Crystal, but this time, he felt his bones changing shape, morphing into new shapes and sizes. His skin boiled and melted off him, and was replaced with something new. He felt new, strange appendages growing and sprouting from his body.

And he felt every little bit of it. While it lasted mere seconds, it felt like eternity to Elijah. Eventually, he passed out.

•

•

•

He woke in a library again, and pain free. Confused, he looked around, and saw the Dragon known as Ignitus, leaning over a book and mumbling to himself.

"Hello?" Elijah said, after the Dragon failed to notice him. The dragon looked up at him, and smiled before saying, "Are you enjoying your new found lovers?"

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?"

"I admit, I know more than I let on to the first time we met, however, your choices still baffle me. As for why you chose not to take a dragon's form and have the three powers, I do not know. But, it is necessary for you to have these things if you are to beat Malefor. I know it seems easy, but that fight was uneven in the extreme. Not only did you have backup, but he was weak. The next time you face him, you will be alone and he will be much stronger."

"Wait, what did you do to me?" Elijah asked suspiciously, but the Dragon ignored him and said, "Learn your new powers, practice with them, and become stronger."

"Hey! Did you change me into a dragon?!" Elijah yelled, and the Dragon nodded before saying impatiently, "Yes, you need a stronger from to fight Ma-"

"No! You don't get it, do you? I can't learn to fight as a dragon in a few days! Plus, look at Spyro! There's no way I would out-perform him as a dragon, and even if I could, I would have to do so much better to actually kill Malefor! When will you realize that maybe it's time we fight him a new way? And that I'm better off as a human? I've been fighting as a Human my entire life, you can't just change me into a dragon and expect me to be Ok with it!"

The dragon stared at him, surprised, for a few seconds. Finally, he said, "Ok, fine. I was only looking to help you with your new mates."

"Well, don't. They love me as I am, and I love them. We don't need anything to change." He said confidently. Ignitus smiled slyly at him, and said, "Oh? And you can do everything with them? Give them all they want with your fragile, small, human body?"

Elijah sighed, and said, "I'm sure I don't know what you mean by that."

He knew exactly what he meant. Ignitus stared at him for a few moments, an expression of disbelief on his face. Soon, Elijah sighed and said,

"Ok, fine, your right, I can't truly mate with Lillian or Emily, they're just to big. But right now we need to concentrate on defeating Malefor. Maybe another time after we defeat him I can focus more on them."

"Just make sure you don't neglect them, they have wants and expectations as well as you. Good luck."

Everything faded again.

He slowly opened his eyes, and was terrified to find only bright light that filled his vision. It took a few moments, but the light faded, and he could see again. The first things he noticed when he could see were the worried faces of two dragonesses.

He let out a groan and asked, "What happened?"

They shared a look, then Lillian said, "Well, I think you turned into a dragon."

Elijah looked down at his body, expecting scales and claws, but found his normal, if now bare, human body. He was so confused, he didn't even realize he was now naked, and he looked back up and asked, "What are you talking about? I'm human right now!"

"Well, yeah, you shrunk back down to a human after probably 10 seconds of being a dragon, and your cloths… uh, they were torn off when you changed the first time." Emily said, causing Elijah's eyes to go wide, and he tried to cover himself with his hands. This caused them to giggle at his attempts, and for a few minutes they forgot about all their problems and started goofing around.

"Stop staring at me, and get me my bag!" Elijah said, embarrassed. Emily heard the embarrassment and walked up to him, saying, "Aww, don't be embarrassed, your body is great! For a human, anyways."

He frowned slightly, and said defensively, "What do you mean, for a human?! I have a great body even compared to a dragon!"

Lillian then said in a curious and teasing tone, "Oh? And do you have the scars of a Dragon?"

She didn't notice his nervous expression, and then approached him and looked at his body. When she looked at his back, she gasped, causing Emily to join her behind him. She stared at his back, also stunned.

On his back, were a number of scars, and all of them looked horrifying. There were 4 long scars that ran from his shoulders, two on each side, down to his hip. There was a massive, circular one in the middle-left side of his back, about 4 inches in diameter. There was one massive cut, about 15 inches long, and curved like a crescent, 2 inches wide at the middle, and narrowed as it went out. The last one, and probably the most ominous of them, was a large dent in his lower right back.

"What gave you these?" Lillian whispered, barely audible to Elijah.

"Torture. I was captured and tortured during a war before the one you saw. We were fighting terrorists in a different country, really bad people. They ambushed my squad, captured me, and tortured me for days before I was rescued. The four long ones were given to me with a standard knife, just up and down. The big, circular one was when they hit me with a glass vase, and it shattered, cutting me open there. The large cut was with a knife, then they peeled part of the skin back, then cut it off with a pair of rusty scissors."

"What's the indent from?" Emily asked, wanting him to continue.

"That was when they decided to carve out a piece of me with an embalming tool." He said simply.

"Why were they torturing you?" Lillian said, running the back of one claw softly across one scar.

"Because they wanted information out of me. They wanted to know the layout of the base I was assigned to so they could attack it."

"Did you tell them?" Emily asked, but Elijah shook his head immediately and said, "Of course not, if I had then a lot of soldiers and their families on base would have died. I wouldn't let that happen, not if I could help it."

Lillian laughed lightly and said, "I love that about you. Always so caring of others."

To Elijah, the words seemed cheesy in a way, but he realized it must not seem that way to her, as she came from a different world entirely. He smiled at the thought of either of them going to the Human world. Before the war, or course.

It was then that he realized he would have to get the bag himself, and so he wandered over to retrieve it. To his relief, he noticed that they hadn't followed him back, so he pulled out the extra Uniform he carried. He also realized it was a good thing he hasn't been wearing his armor or other gear, and only his uniform. Then, he realized something else missing.

He put the uniform on quickly, and ran back out to the scraps that used to be his cloths, and dug around in them. He sighed in relief when he pulled out the Dog tags he had in the pocket, and put them into his new one.

"Why do you still carry them?" Lillian asked, surprising Elijah a little.

"Carry what?" He asked, confused.

"The Dog Tags in your pocket, Emily told me about them." She responded softly.

Elijah thought for a few moments, and it was quiet. But soon, Elijah's eyes went distant, and his voice soft, he said, "Well, I guess I kept them as a gesture of respect. I thought maybe one day, the war would be over, and they would begin to mourn the dead, but there were so many that I figured some wouldn't be found or remembered. I kept these and a few others, to ensure that they would be remembered, if not by the world, then by me."

Lillian looked at him a few moments before nuzzling him softly on the cheek. Elijah's hand came up and stroked the side of her long snout lovingly a few times, and she purred quietly. Soon, the moment was over, and she pulled away.

As she did so, Elijah saw Emily come around the corner with a rabbit in her mouth. She approached him, and dropped it at his feet, then said, "There you go! That should feed you for today, right?"

"Yeah, but what about you two?" Elijah asked, picking up the limp rabbit.

"Oh, we already ate." Lillian said, then yawned quietly. Elijah noticed out of the corner of his eye that Emily yawned too, and he then fought the urge to yawn with them. When he fought the yawn back enough, he said, "Well, how about you two get some rest, you've looked after me for days now, so now it's your turn to sleep. I'll just do some exploring while you sleep, maybe some training, or some hunting."

"Ok, but be careful, please." Lillian warned, and Elijah smiled before he said, "Of course. Now you two get some sleep."

Emily and Lillian both gratefully accepted the offer, and curled up on the floor and closed their eyes. Elijah watched them for a few moments, admiring their beauty. Then, he shook his head, freeing himself from the trance of the two beautiful dragonesses before him, and began walking around.

He decided to try and find the way out first, following the breeze that came into the dim cave. Soon, light was more abundant, and it became considerably colder. Soon, he found out why.

As he came to the cave entrance, he found himself staring out at a Pine Forest covered in white snow, and bright blue skies above. It reminded him of a camp site he went to as a kid, up in the Rocky Mountains near Montana.

The clear blue skies, the tall, green pines, the white snow, and the hint of tree sap in the fresh, cool breeze. He smiled at the pure peace and beauty of the sight.

Then he shivered as a particularly cold breeze hit him.

He walked back into the cave, and decided to now explore more of the cave itself. He walked past the two sleeping dragonesses again, and grabbed his pack before venturing further into the cave. He soon had to use his flashlight, as the sunlight faded and left him in the dark. He was careful not to make much noise, but not to particularly cautious, as he assumed that Lillian and Emily had already scouted out the cave to make sure it was safe.

A few minutes of walking brought him to a dead end.

Disappointed he didn't find anything interesting, Elijah scanned through the cave again. Still having found nothing, his disappointment turned to annoyance, almost causing him to not notice the crack in the wall.

His light landed on first the edge of the crack, which was very small, but as he moved his light more, he found it grew in size, to about 2 feet wide. He approached the crack, and shinned the light into it. His heart began beating faster as he saw what was on the other side.

He quickly squeezed into the crack, and began shuffling through it. When he came though on the other side, he looked around and gasped.

In his time in this world, he had seen buildings and architecture that was similar to human, such as the buildings in Warfang. However, they weren't quite human in design.

This, however, was Human Architecture.

He stood in a hallway made of steel pillars and dark colored marble with a metal grate floor. His footsteps echoed as he walked down the hallway. He passed a number of metal, push open doors, and he checked only a few to find they were locked. Soon, he came to a large, double door that seemed to be locked electronically, as there was a keypad next to it. He pushed on it, and heard it creak in protest as he put his weight into it.

But it didn't open.

He sighed, frustrated, and started looking around, trying random doors along the hall. He found a few that opened, and inside he found bedrooms. They were simple, with a single queen size bed, a wooden desk and chair, and a door that led to a bathroom that contained a small shower, toilet, sink and mirror. Each one was almost identical, with the only differences being the random objects found on the desks.

He lost track of time, and minutes became hours. Eventually, he heard voices calling his name. They were distant, and echoed down the halls. He was confused at first, but when he looked at his watch, he realized he had been down here for nearly 5 hours, and that Lillian and Emily were probably awake and calling for him.

He quickly left the room he was in, and took off down the hall, his footsteps echoing loudly across the hall. The voices grew louder, and Elijah began to recognize them. As he came to the wall he entered from, he called out, "I'm in here!"

"Where?" Called Lillian. Elijah squeezed between the crack again, and came out on the other side.

"Right here." He said, catching their attention. They walked over, and Emily asked, "Where were you?!"

"Some place amazing!" Elijah said, excited before continuing, "Lillian, break through this wall right here, it's not to thick, maybe about a foot thick."

Confused, she nodded, and motioned for him to move. She took a few steps back, then charged at the wall, hitting it with her shoulder. A loud crack was heard, but the stone remained standing. She repeated the process twice more before the wall crashed down. When the dust settled, and they could see again, Elijah heard the two gasp in surprise.

"C'mon! I need you to break down something else for me." Elijah said, and took off at a steady jog down the hall. Lillian couldn't stand straight when inside, and had to stoop her neck down.

Elijah led them to the large double door, and motioned for her to hit it. She approached the door, and pushed with her paw, causing the door to creak loudly before swinging open with a loud crash. Elijah stepped inside, and began looking around with his flashlight.

He tried to flip the light switch a few times, but there wasn't so much as a flicker of the lights. He wandered around the new room a little, and found another switch on the wall. This one had words next to it, 'Emergency Power.'

"Huh, that's convenient." Elijah whispered to himself, then grabbed the switch and pulled. A loud clank was heard, and there was the crackle of electricity as some of the lights flickered on. He looked around, and saw a number of computers on one wall, more doors on another, and a few desks on the other wall.

Only one computer clicked on.

He walked up to it, and pulled the chair out and sat down. He watched it turn on, and when it finally finished its start up, it went right to the desktop. He opened the computer files, and began sifting through documents.

"What is this? What are you doing?" Emily asked curiously.

"This is a computer, and I am trying to find out what this place is." He said, typing and clicking away at files.

"So, what do you think it is?" Lillian asked.

"Well, from these files, I'd say it was a Bunker or a Research Facility."

"Why build a Research Facility all the way out here?" Lillian asked.

"Well, I can think of a few reasons. The most likely one is because some of the stuff we researched could decimate an entire population if it got out of hand, so they brought it way out here to reduce the risk."

They were silent after that, as they watched him work. After a few minutes, Elijah let out a sigh of relief, and he said, "Oh, Thank God, it was a VIP bunker, not a Research Facility. But now the question is who was to stay here?"

"What's a VIP?" Asked Lillian.

"It stands for Very Important Person."

"Ok, so who was this VIP?" She asked, and Elijah shrugged and said, "I don't know, it doesn't say in any of these documents. What I really want to know, is how did this get here?! I thought I was in a new world entirely!"

"Maybe you guys lived a really long time ago?" Emily suggested, causing some thing to click in Elijah's mind.

"Holy shit… I think your right, but that doesn't explain why I'm here, if humans really did die out, that must have been thousands of years ago for the land to have changed so much and the ruins of the Cities to disappear!"

She shrugged slightly with her wings and said, "Or a determination to make things go away."

"Well, I'm not sure about that one, but at this point your guess is as good as mine… but either way, from the looks of it, no one's been here in years, so maybe we can find supplies, food, weapons, anything useful."

They nodded, and began sniffing around. Lillian approached one door, and her head popped up and she said, "Hey, Elijah, I smell something similar to your gun on the other side of this door!"

"Really? Open it!" Elijah said, excited.

She did so, and when Elijah stepped into the room, he gasped.

Guns. Bullets. Kevlar. Grenades. Everything he could ever want.

He smiled and dropped his bag before walking up to one to examine the weapons. They were in relatively good condition, but there weren't very many guns. On a rack, there sat 4 M4A1's, 3 Mp5's, 2 M24 Sniper Rifles, and 4 Beretta pistols like the one he carried now. There was also a single crate of M67 Grenades, a crate of M6 Smoke Grenades, and 8 Kevlar vests. Elijah assumed each crate held about 12 to 18 of each Grenade. Next, he inspected the ammo crates and Magazines.

None of the crates had specific numbers on the sides, so Elijah had to estimate. He figured probably a total of 20,000 rounds, considering there were nearly 15 Crates of ammunition, each crate being about 3 feet cubed.

He heard a clatter behind him, and he turned to see that Emily had nocked over the rack of Mp5's.

"Oops." She said, slightly embarrassed.

"Eh, it's fine, they can take a beating and still fire just fine."

"So, what are they?"

"More guns, similar to mine, but these are much larger and more powerful, plus the grenades." He said, then turned and grabbed an M4A1 off a rack, and used the but of the gun to bash open a crate labeled, and quite conveniently so, 'M4A1 Magazines.'

He pulled out 5 of the 30-round magazines, and put them on a table, then proceeded to open one crate labeled with the words, '.556nato rounds.' He then pulled out a number of smaller, green Metal boxes, labeled similarly, and opened them.

He spent the next hour loading Magazines, and gathering as many weapons and as much ammo as he could hold.

When he stood, he wavered slightly as his legs protested the increased weight, but he stood firm. He was now alone, as the other two got bored and decided to explore elsewhere, so he called out, "Ok, I'm done! Where'd you go?"

He got no response, but was not too worried, for he knew they could take care of themselves. And even if they were to get in trouble, there's no way it would be this quiet.

He walked off down the hall they came from, back towards the cave. As he walked, he heard a clatter in one of the rooms. He poked his head inside the door, and saw Emily investigating one of the desks, and had nocked down a cup of pencils. He walked in, and said, "Hey."

She turned to him and smiled, then said, "Hey, are you finally ready to go?"

"Yeah, where did Lillian go?"

"Oh, she was still tired, so she went back to get some more sleep."

Elijah nodded, then turned to leave, but stopped when he saw a few faded pictures on the wall of this room. They were clearly hand drawn, but he couldn't tell what they were depicting, they were all faded and blurry. It reminded him of when he sketched, a long, long time ago.

He then turned back to the desk, and gathered up the pencils that had been nocked over, and was quite excited to find they were Sketching Pencils, which varied in hardness to create different line weights. He smiled, then started looking for paper to use. Unfortunately, the only paper he found was old, stale, and cracked when he grabbed it.

He did, however, happen to find some thing else in a drawer while searching for paper. An IPod.

But not one of those 5th generation ones, it was an old one, that were made purely for music. He thought he was pushing his luck when he tried to turn it on, but his luck wasn't out yet. As the screen came alive, he almost yelled in joy, but instead merely smiled happily.

His luck was still running strong when he found a portable speaker that was powered with Rechargeable batteries. However, his luck faltered for a minute when he couldn't find a cord to connect the two. Soon, he managed to hunt one down in a mess of old paper and other cords.

He then wondered how he could be so lucky as to find all this, but then realized this was a survival bunker, so people probably planned to have things that lasted, such as rechargeable batteries, and IPods that could go years on full charge without use.

He then decided not to push his luck any further, and turned to Emily and said, "OK, now we can go."

"Wait, what is that?" She asked, bobbing her head towards the objects in his hand.

"I'll explain when we meet up with Lillian, but trust me, it's really fun!" He replied, with a smile. She smiled back at him, and they walked down the hallway, back through the hole, and back to the cave.

They found Lillian curled up in the middle of the floor in the main room, and as Elijah and Emily approached, she brought her head up to greet them.

"So, you finally finished playing around, hmm?"

"Oh, not just yet!" Elijah said excitedly, then showed her the IPod and speaker. Her expression was blank for a few moments, as she merely stared at the two things. Soon, she asked, "Well, what are they?"

"Uh, well I don't think an explanation of what they are will help, but I can explain what they do. Basically, this is an IPod, and it stores Music on it. This is a speaker, and it plays the music that it gets from this."

"What kind of music?" She asked.

"Well, it depends on what you like, you can download any song you want! Err, well, if we had internet… and no, we don't have that. What ever music is on here, is what ever the previous owner liked."

He then hit a button, waking it up, and saw with disappointment it only had 30% Battery remaining, but it would let him play songs for a while longer atleast. He began searching through playlists, and found this person to be into a lot of rock songs, a little country, some Pop, but mostly Rock. It ranged from soft rock, to old rock, to some of the newer rock songs that Elijah enjoyed, such as Shinedown and Starset, and some other artists he had never heard of. He picked through them, and soon settled on a song called, Die for you, by Starset.

 **Obviously, I encourage you to play The song in the background, but you don't have too.**

The speaker came alive with the first note of the song. The speaker was clear, if a bit too loud, and played the song very well.

They bobbed their heads to the beat, and a broad smile took over Elijah's face.

"I will run alone tonight… without you by my side"

"I guess you had a place you had to get to"

"I know your eyes, I know inside… the walls you hide behind"

"And I saw the truth, inside the real you"

"Because I know your lost when you run away,"

"Into the same Black Holes and Black Mistakes"

"Taking all my Will just to run alone,"

"When are you coming home?"

"Even if the sky does fall, Even if they take it all,"

"There's no pain that I won't go through… Even if I have to die for you"

"And when all the fires burn,"

"When everything is overturning,"

"There's no thing that I won't go through… Even if I have to die for you"

"One day, the Earth will open wide, and I'll follow you inside,"

"Cause the only hell I know, is without you"

"Someday, when Galaxies collide, we'll be lost on different skies,"

"And I'll send my rocket ship to find you"

"Cause I know your lost when you run away, to the same Black Holes and Black Mistakes,"

"Taking all my will just to run alone,"

"Until I bring you home!"

"Even if the sky does fall, even if they take it all,"

"There's no pain that I won't go through, even if I have to die for you"

"And when all the fires burn, and everything is overturning!"

"There's no thing that I won't go through… Even if I have to die for you!"

"And if the sun grows cold for you along the way,"

"And If the stars don't line to light the way,"

"And when you fall away, and crash back down below,"

"I search the skies for you, and I'll follow… In your afterglow"

"And ill bring you home,"

"Even if the sky does fall, even if they take it all,"

"I can't see but I'll follow you… even if I die"

"And when all the fires burn, when everything is overturning,"

"There's no thing that I won't go through, even if I have to die for you"

As the song continued with no words left, he stopped and smiled at the two, who smiled back.

"Can you play another one?" Emily asked.

"Sure, but I'm not singing any more." He said, and saw a slight amount of disappointment in their eyes. He pretended not to have noticed it, and started another song. Their heads bobbed with the rhythm, but not with as much enthusiasm. Actually, Elijah could see a hint of sadness in the two, which in turn made him regret his decision.

He sighed after a few moments of thought, then smiled at the new idea that came to his mind. He stood up, and motioned for them to do the same, and he called, "Up up up! Get up! I've got an idea that I think you'll love!"

With a new excitement, they jumped to their feet and looked to him for instructions. He couldn't keep the excitement from entering his voice when he asked, "Have either of you heard of dancing?"

He took the confusion on their face as a no, so he continued, "Ok, so basically it's a bunch of movements with your feet and body, and it doesn't really have much order, depending on what song you dance too. Here, I'll show you."

He scrolled through a few songs until he found an upbeat song, and a personal favorite, Dirt on my Boots, by

He started moving around with mostly random movements, as he really didn't know how to dance. Plus, he was way more interested in watching them dance. They clearly didn't know what they were doing either, but even more obvious was the fact that they were having fun.

They started just tapping their feet and bobbing their heads, but after seeing Elijah start moving, they started doing small jumps and moving their feet around. Elijah broke out laughing when Lillian tripped on her own tail. She glared at him, then swiped her tail under his legs, and he fell to the ground.

Now, Emily was laughing. Elijah grinned, and jumped on her, taking her to the ground. Unknown to Elijah, he had just started a wrestling match with Emily, and a very unfair one.

He didn't expect it when Emily turned on him and began to try and pin him to the ground, but He soon picked up on what was happening, and hoped Lillian wouldn't join in. She used her paws to pin his shoulders, but forgot the fact that Elijah had Elbows, so he merely moved his hands and pushed her front legs out from under her.

However, while he did have a plan for what to do next, he forgot to realize that she was quite heavy.

Her front legs having been moved out, she fell forward, right onto Elijah's chest, nocking the air out of him. She immediately moved her legs back into position on his shoulders, and held him there, thinking she was victorious.

However, when she looked down at him, she found him wheezing and sucking air in through gritted teeth and his eyes pressed shut.

"What happened? Are you ok?!" Emily asked, panic evident in her voice. She removed her paws from his shoulders and stepped back a little, but not too far, allowing him to move. Elijah rolled onto his stomach, and pushed himself up with his arms until he was on his knees, but still bent forward on his hands. He sucked in breath in big gulps now, but it still seemed as if he had a hard time getting enough air.

This went on for only about 20 Seconds before his breathing stabilized and became more even again. He moved from his bent over position to sitting against a wall.

Or, he thought it was a wall. When he opened his eyes, he saw Emily on the opposite side of the cave staring at her paws. But he didn't see Lillian, and when he looked around, he realized she was sitting down, similar to a dog would, and he was leaning against her Hindquarters. She had her head bent down to his level, and was staring at his chest.

He looked down, and saw 8 Claw marks, 4 on the left and right side of his upper chest, and going out towards his arms. He then wondered how he got them, and then a sound came to his ears: Crying.

Then, things clicked. Emily staring at her claws, the cuts on his chest, Emily crying, and their wrestling match. When he swiped her paws out from under her, he dragged her claws along his uniform, and they tore through the fabric and into his skin.

Elijah immediately jumped up, ignoring Lillian's protests, and approached Emily, who had her back to him and was sitting on her hindquarters. As he came closer, he could see the blood on her claws and the pool of tears that surrounded her.

He knew he had to fix this, but he didn't really know if she would accept the fact that he caused this, not her.

He put a hand on her back, between her wing joints, and knelt down beside her. He then spoke to her in the softest voice he could manage, "Emily? Hey, it's ok, it wasn't your fault. I did this, not you."

"No, it was my claws that hurt you! It was my fault!"

Elijah sighed and said, "No, it wasn't. We were messing around, and someone got hurt. It's a lesson learned, just another thing we know not to do, but only if we're able to move on can we learn from it. If you beat yourself up about it, you'll get stuck on it and hurt yourself even more."

Elijah could see she was coming around to the thought, but as he said those last 5 words, her face darkened and she whispered with sadness in her voice, "Maybe I deserve to be hurt."

Elijah immediately slapped her on the cheek. While it was a bit harder than he intended, it still got her attention, and she looked directly at him with wide eyes and a surprised and Baffled expression.

"Don't you ever say that again!" Elijah yelled, then continued at a normal volume, but his voice still full of concern and command, "You do not deserve to be hurt! Why would you think such a thing?! It was a mistake, it wasn't your fault! Besides, I'm not weak, it didn't hurt, so you should just move on! Like I did! Just keep going and learn from your mistakes!"

He then paused with a sigh, as he realized he was raising his voice. Then, after a few moments of silence, he said softly, "Just, please… don't ever say anything like that again. I can't loose you, or Lillian for that matter. You two are at the top of the list of things I have left to protect, and it's not a very long list anyways."

"Are we on that list of yours?" Said a familiar voice.

Elijah turned around quickly, and was shocked to see Aleah, Gloria, and Chandler standing on the other side of the cave.

Stunned, he merely stared at them for a few seconds, wide eyed.

Gloria was wearing leather armor over her Red scales. The armor covered her chest, then reached around and under her to cover her stomach and sides, then wrapped up to cover her back. There was a small section cut out for her wings, and they had enough room to fold comfortably. She had some more that covered parts of her legs and tails, but she wore no helmet.

Aleah's armor was a totally different story. Her armor was not made of leather, but of metal. Her chest plate gleamed in the dim light, as did her shoulder plates and helmet. It wasn't a very intricate design, but it was clearly made with much care and attention. Another detail that Elijah noticed, was that in some places it was dented and scratched, showing its durability. He also noticed the large sword at her side, and that it was the same one she had from the village.

Next, was Chandler. To Elijah, he was the most impressive of them all, but Chandler wore no armor. But he didn't need the armor to impress Elijah. Chandler had grown quite a lot, going from the height of his knee, to his side. He also had a broad smile across his face.

Elijah was stunned, and could do nothing but stare at them for a few seconds. Soon, they all broke out into big smiles and joyful laughter when Elijah said, "Of course you guys are!"

The three swarmed around him, asking him questions and telling of stories. Soon, Elijah forced them to calm down so he could ask the one truly important question in his mind,

"What happened after I left?"

 **As I said in the beginning, I did dig into that, and found that it is plausible, and that was good enough for me! Besides, the part that I stretched the most doesn't actually have a big impact on the overall story, it's more just a fun part. Obviously I don't own the song, or any of the names used, I love the song and the band. Plus, I thought it would be a nice addition to the story to add some more touchy moments like this.**

 **I'm sorry for the incredibly long wait, I know how it feels to have someone do this, I really do.**

 **I SWEAR TO YOU ALL, I WILL NOT QUIT THIS STORY! EVEN IF IT TAKES ME MONTHS MORE!**

 **I'm trying to get these out in high quality, just bear with me.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I can't tell if anyone actually reads this story anymore! No-one leaves reviews! PLEASE REVIEW! Tell me what you like and why, that way I know what to do! Make sure to tell me what you don't like as well, that way I know what to avoid in the future!**

 **Anyways, please enjoy the chapter!**

"Well, after we woke up that morning and found you gone, we started looking for you. We searched for hours, and began to think Spyro had killed you or something. But, when we couldn't even find Spyro, we began to think differently, more along the lines of kidnapping." Said Gloria, who was now sitting 4 feet from Elijah. Elijah himself, leaned against Lillian's side with Emily's head in his lap.

So far in the short amount of time they had spent, reunited, Elijah had already noticed a massive increase in Chandler's maturity. While he enjoyed this change, he had to admit, he missed the childish, yet enjoyable nature of the dragon.

"Then, while we were searching, we heard… well, I guess I don't have a word to explain the sound I heard. It was similar to a fireball exploding, but multiplied by a thousand!" Gloria exclaimed, then sighed quietly before continuing, "Just a few days after, the village was attacked by hundreds of apes. They took Drake, Cynder, Tristan, Hunter, and a few others. And they killed so many more… including Ron."

"Yeah, we heard about that from Tristan and Hunter." Elijah said, and caught Aleah's attention. Her ears twitched at the name, and she had an expression of concern and excitement as she said, "What? Tristan is alive?! Where is he!?"

"Same place we just escaped from. I'm not sure if they got out or not, I had already passed out."

Gloria cocked her head slightly, and she asked, "Why did you pass out?"

Emily's head shot up at that moment, and she said excitedly, "Oh! You should've seen him! He fought off Malefor while they escaped, even after the guardians fell, he fought him!"

"What? You fought Malefor and lived?!" Gloria exclaimed. Elijah's response was one of indifference, and he said, "Well, yeah, I'm still here, aren't I?"

But Emily wouldn't leave it at that, and went on, "Oh, he was amazing! He kicked Malefor's scaled but so hard, he-" but Elijah interrupted her with, "No, I didn't! I lost, I didn't win."

"But you, alone, did better than all four guardians and the Saviors." Lillian added.

"The saviors? Who are they?" Elijah asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Spyro and Cynder…" Emily said, and Elijah face Palmed before saying, "Oh, ok, that makes sense. But either way, Malefor is going to be much stronger the next time I face him."

"Well, then you won't face him alone, then." Aleah said with a reassuring look.

"Well, no offense, but 2 small dragons and a cheetah aren't going to help me much." He said, then flinched at her response. She glared at him, then said, "Excuse me? I'm trying to be helpful! And who ever said that it was only 2 dragons and a cheetah?"

"What does that mean?" Elijah asked, confused.

"It means there are more than 2 dragons and a cheetah that evaded Malefor and his armies." Emily said, causing Elijah to wonder how she knew that, but only for a moment before he remembered that she worked with him. The bitter memory clouded his mind for a few seconds, but he recovered and managed to push it away. However, it did not go unnoticed by the other three, and Aleah asked,

"Something wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, nothing's wrong." Elijah said, then saw the looks of disbelief. He sighed in defeat and said, "Well, actually… everything is wrong! We're in the middle of a war right now! And my experience in war has taught me that nothing is ever ok during war, no place is truly safe, and no plan is guaranteed success."

"You seem like you have a lot of experience in war, but so do my warriors. Even I have some good experience now. This tribe of cheetahs have been fighting Malefor and his armies for years, even after Spyro captured Malefor the first time. We've been gathering other survivors, and we've been attacking ape camps." Aleah said proudly, and slightly arrogantly in Elijah's opinion.

"How many do you have?" He asked in a plain voice with little emotion.

"We're 10 Dragons strong with 45 Cheetah warriors and 27 moles." She said, equally as proud as before.

"What's your plan?" He asked in a monotone voice.

"Well… attack camps of apes, and rescue who we can."

"I mean, what is your plan in the long term?" He asked in the same tone.

She hesitated in her response, and paused with her mouth open, thinking. After a few seconds, she said uncertainly, "Well…"

With Aleah having not responded, he turned and pointed at Gloria and asked in a slightly accusing tone, "What about you? Do you have a long term plan? A goal? Anything?"

She was also hesitant, but soon shook her head slowly. Elijah laughed, although it was more a puff of air than a laugh, and it confused the three. That is, until they looked at his eyes and saw anger and disappointment.

"You say you have experience? You wanna test it? You think your powerful? I can tell you, as someone with YEARS of experience, that you and your group of warriors wouldn't last 20 minutes in a fair fight. And if all you plan on doing are ambushes and night raids, you won't win. I've been fighting almost as long as I can remember, and while the small battles are important, they aren't decisive."

When he finished, they looked at the floor, heads hung in shame. For a moment he felt guilty about it, but then he realized they needed a wake up call anyways. Then, to his surprise, Chandler brought his head up and said with a slight smile, "How about you lead us, then?"

Their eyes turned on him, and for a moment he was shocked at the question.

He had always been a low ranking soldier when he was in the Military, he didn't lead people, he didn't give orders. He could go off and do his own thing, maybe tell 2 or three others what to do, but in his mind, those were just suggestions, not commands.

"I don't think I'd be good at it." He said nervously.

Every pair of eyes on him went wide as he said that, and they all voiced their disagreement, "What?! You would be the best leader ever!" Said Chandler.

"Yeah, your great at taking charge of things!"

"And making plans!"

"And the best warrior of any of us!"

Elijah was a little overwhelmed by the outburst, but composed himself, and said, "I've never been a leader! Sure, I might be good at planning and fighting, but you need more than that to lead! Your followers have to trust you, and actually like you!"

Aleah shook her head and said, "You don't understand. You're a hero to this world."

"What?! How?! All I've done so far is release evil into the world!" He exclaimed.

"Word spread of how you saved us at that village, and Lillian in the temple. Of course, not all of us trust you yet, but I know that most of the creatures of this world are at least willing to give you a chance."

Elijah sighed and sat down, head in his hands. It was quiet for a few minutes, as they awaited his next reaction. Soon, Gloria asked softly, "So… will you do it?"

Elijah was silent a moment longer, then he sighed yet again. He brought his head up, and looked at Aleah, and said, "Well, let's see the soldiers, shall we?"

They took that as a yes, and the three smiled broadly at him. Emily and Lillian, however, shared nervous and worried looks with each other. They all stood, and walked out of the cave, following Aleah. They were silent as they walked, and Elijah could hear the breathing of the two dragonesses behind him.

A small camp soon came into view. It was placed in a clearing of the trees, and consisted of a few quickly make wooden cabins and a large number of Tents. As the group approached, Elijah could see cheetahs and Moles sharpening weapons and maintaining armor.

When they entered the camp, Gloria and Chandler split off into another direction, taking Emily and Lillian, leaving him to follow Aleah alone. As he passed the warriors, they looked at him, and stood up, dropping what ever task they were doing. They watched him as he passed, and as he kept walking, more stood and watched him.

Soon, they began following him as Aleah led him to the Center of the camp.

After another minute of walking, Elijah found himself in a clearing again, but this one smaller, and rather than trees on the outside, it was a group of Cheetahs, Moles, and Dragons. And he was in the middle of them all, with Aleah now walking away from him.

He then realized what was going on, and began to panic. Some of the dragons saw this, and gave him glares of disappointment. Those glares sent him into action, having realized that he was making a fool of himself, and he quickly replaced his expression with one of determination and strength.

"So! You're the rag-tag group of rebels that I've been told about?" He yelled, then paused for a few seconds, "You don't look like much to me!"

This got him a few angry looks, and a few surprised ones.

"You have no idea what we've been through! Who are you to judge us?" Called an angry voice.

"Who am I? I am Elijah Hamrick! I am a simple soldier, a Marine to be precise. And in the world I come from, we fight a little differently… a bit more dangerously… and a hell of a lot louder!"

He saw looks of dissbelief.

"You there!" He said, pointing at a Mole wearing a metal helmet, "Take off your Helmet and hold it above your head."

He was confused, but slowly did so. Elijah grabbed his pistol, and fired once. The bullet knocked the helmet from the mole's hands, and he saw all of the onlookers jump at the sound of the gunshot. A few moments later, the mole cried out, "There is a hole in it!"

He then held it up for others to see, and sure enough, a small hole was found in the helmet. They looked back to Elijah, who had holstered his gun, and waited patiently.

"See what I mean? And that's not even the loudest of them! Anyways, I didn't come here to show off weaponry, I came down here to see just how badly we're going to loose this fight."

He saw more looks of surprise, and one voice asked, "You don't think we can win?"

He kept his face serious as he said, "Do you think it matters? Do you think I really care if we win or not? I started off fighting not because I thought I would survive and win, but because I knew I couldn't sit and do nothing! If your thinking of weather we can win or not, then stop! It shouldn't matter if we win or loose, as long as we're fighting for what we believe in, and what we love. If your not willing to fight to the death, leave right now. If your thinking about weather or not you will make it through this, stop. Think about who YOU can help get through this! If all we think about is ourselves, then we don't have unity! Think about keeping your loved ones alive, about your brothers and sisters in arms! Regardless of gender or race, from this day forward, you are all Brothers and Sisters! You are bound not by blood, but by something even stronger! You fight with each other, you fight FOR each other! If you can do this for me, I will fight to the death for you! If you do this… our enemy doesn't stand a chance!"

Fortunately, the group started cheering then, because Elijah had nothing left to say. It was a quick cheer, but it soon died down, and they returned to their tasks.

Elijah sighed with relief, and Aleah approached him with a smile and said, "Well, you started off rough, but I guess you pulled that together pretty well in the end."

Elijah smiled proudly, but Aleah quickly added, "But I hope you realize that it will take more than a good speech to win this."

"Of course I do. But where did Emily and Lillian go?"

"Chandler and Gloria took them to get outfitted with armor." She said simply.

"Armor?" He asked, confused as to why they would need armor. Then, it clicked in his mind. They would have to fight, too. It hadn't crossed his mind before then, but he realized it was quite obvious that they would fight.

Aleah pretended not to notice his reaction, and said, "Here, I'll take you to them."

He nodded, but before they could take more than a few steps, Elijah was approached by 2 Dragonesses, one blue and one red. Both looked young, and not more than 5 feet tall, but both of them had strange expressions on their muzzles. Aleah didn't seem to see them, and kept walking when they stepped in front of Elijah with smiles on their muzzles.

As he looked at them, surprised, Aleah kept walking, leaving him to deal with the two.

"Uh… what do you need?" He asked nervously, and noticed that they are both studying him intently. But, at his question, the red one looked at his eyes and said, "So you're the human named Elijah?"

"Well… yeah, I don't see any other Humans here."

"Hmm, that's good." She said, confusing Elijah.

"Why is that good?" He asked.

"That way there are no inferior human Females to… distract you from the clearly Superior females." Answered the Blue one.

It took Elijah a moment to process her words, but when he did, his mind went to work piecing it together. Their looks were flirtatious looks, their movements were deliberately exaggerated, and they studied his body. He hadn't recognized the looks or actions as flirtatious mostly because he hadn't been flirted with in years! The other reason was that he hadn't expected a Dragoness to take interest in him so quickly, let alone two.

"Excuse me?" He said, to which they giggled and the red one said, "You know what she meant."

"Yeah, I do. But what makes you think you have the Right to approach me and ask something like that?"

They looked confused and a little shocked, but the Blue one responded, "And why wouldn't we?"

"Maybe because he's already been claimed!" Roared an angry voice from behind him. He turned around and saw Lillian and Emily standing behind him a few feet, both wearing shiny armor and an enraged expression.

However, Elijah had caught one word in her statement that he didn't like, and called out, "Excuse me? I am not claimed! I'm not some treasure to be taken and claimed!"

They ignored him, and advanced apon the two dragonesses, who backed away fearfully. Elijah stood in front of them, and said, "Hello! Are you going to acknowledge what I just said?"

They ignored him, and walked around him, still advancing on the two.

"Hey! What are you doing? Come back over here, they haven't done anything." He called again, but still saw no sign of them stopping. Then, a thought crossed his mind.

What of they tried to kill the two?

He had no idea how far they would take this, but he wouldn't take the chance, so he jumped into action. He ran up, and put himself between the two pairs, and faced Lillian and Emily with us arms spread out and yelled, "Stop it!" they ignored him, and jumped neatly over him.

Then, the fight began.

He didn't see who started it, as he was facing the other way and before he could turn around, he heard growls, roars, and claws. When he did turn around, he saw the four dragonesses piled up and wrestling with each other, with claws, teeth and tails flying. Elijah scrambled to stop them before anyone was seriously hurt, but as he approached, Lillian's tail swung out and hit him across the face.

He didn't even know how far he flew from the impact, but he could feel it shake his entire body, his nose broke, as well as a number of teeth and his jaw was dislocated. He fought the unconsciousness that tried to take him into darkness, and he felt his body hit something, probably the ground, but he couldn't tell, his vision was spotted and blurry. But then, he fell again, and hit something a little softer, but not much softer.

He fought to stay awake, and the new pain was not helping this struggle. He didn't move for a few moments, trying to acquire enough energy and mind power to stay awake. Then, he opened his eyes, and let out a low groan, then shut his eyes again, and pushed himself up onto his knees.

It was a struggle the entire way up, and the pain doubled with movement. Once onto his knees, he used the tree to pull himself up to his feet with a long, painful groan. Once he had done so, he opened his eyes again. He could barely see. His peripheral vision was blacked out entirely, and the rest of his vision was blurry and dark. His head pounded, his legs were weak, he felt nauseous, and his face was covered in blood. And his hand felt wet.

He looked at his hand, and saw that he put it in a splat of blood on the tree.

'Whose blood is that?' He thought. With his mind not working properly, he didn't make the connection properly, and panicked as he thought that maybe there was danger nearby. He clumsily stumbled away from the tree, and began stumbling away through the trees. He had no idea where he was going, but that thought never crossed his Concussion struck mind.

He couldn't even remember who he was or why he was injured.

He half ran, half stumbled through the trees until he came to a cliff. As he slowed down, he suddenly went blind, and his eyes stung. Terrified, he wiped at his eyes, and cleared blood from them. Confused as to where this blood came from, he touched the top of his head. The moment he did so, he screamed in pain, as he found a large gash in his head. Slowly, he came to realize that the blood on the tree was his, but he still couldn't figure out why he hit his head.

So lost in thought, he didn't feel the drowsiness taking over him, and he forgot his goal of staying awake. He laid down on the ground, then cradled his head and waited for sleep.

Then, he heard a noise…

•

•

•

Back at camp, the fight was being broken up. When they separated the dragonesses, and all had been explained and calmed down, they realized Elijah was gone.

"Where did he go?" Aleah asked the two, who merely shrugged.

"Well, I think I felt something hit my tail, but I don't think it was him." Lillian said in a guilty tone.

"What?! You hit him with your tail?!" Yelled Gloria, and Lillian responded, "I'm not sure, I might have hit something else."

"What else is there for you to hit out here?! Elijah was the only one close to you!" Gloria yelled.

"Ok, let's spread out and look for him. There should be signs of what happened here somewhere." Chandler said, then walked off into the forest to look, with the others following him. They spread out, all scanning the trees and the ground.

Soon, they all heard Emily call out, "Hey! Come over here!"

The all heard the worry and terror in her voice, and came running. Soon, when they all arrived, they too were filled with worry because of the terrifying scene in front of them.

Bright red blood stained and splattered the tree about 4 feet up, and there was even a dent in the middle of it. Then, more blood covered the ground in front of it, and there was a lot of it. There was then a trail of blood that led away through the trees, as well as signs of running. However, it looked like he fell a lot, as well.

The group took off following the trail, and soon found themselves approaching a cliff. As they approached it, they saw a blur of movement. Surprised, it took them a second to recognize the blur as Elijah. A very scared, and clearly injured Elijah.

From what they could see, he had a large gash on his head that bled profusely, his right arm also had a large gash on it, his eyes were bloodshot and pupils dilated, and his held his side, indicating broken ribs.

Even with all this, he ran faster than they thought possible.

He ran parallel to the cliff for a ways, so they started running after him. Only the dragons were able to catch up by flying, and Aleah fell behind.

Elijah looked over his shoulder, and panicked at the sight of the dragons catching up to him. He then scanned the area in front of him, and to the dragon's surprise and terror, he jumped off the cliff. He jumped as far as he could, and they watched as he positioned his body mid air. He pointed his legs down, and pulled them tightly together. His arms were pulled tightly to his sides, and his body was as straight and stiff as a tree.

Emily and Lillian cried out, and watched as he fell faster than a rock.

Then, he hit the water below. They hadn't seen the large lake below the cliff, but now they realized it was stupid to think he would have jumped otherwise.

Elijah surfaced soon after, and began swimming towards the shore. They jumped off and glided down to him, but he had already started running again.

"Elijah! Why are you running?!" Lillian called, but he did not respond. He didn't even look back at them.

He ran into a dense forest, in which none of them could fly. They tried to keep up on foot, but they quickly lost him. That night, Aleah called for volunteers to help find him, but Emily told her,

"It's no use. If he wants to stay hidden, he will stay hidden. If he wants to come back, he'll come back."

Aleah reluctantly agreed, and dispersed the volunteers. Lillian wept in sorrow for hours, and insisted on being alone. The group fell asleep that night to the sound of Lillian sobbing, and with heavy, worried hearts.

But none with a heavier heart than Elijah had.

 **Yes, that was depressing, I know. I also realize it's short, but I need to start increasing my rate of production, and to do that, I'm shortening them. This was also actually done a few days ago, but I put it off on accident and kinda forgot about it.**

 **I hope you enjoyed, and please remember to leave reviews and coments!**!


	12. Chapter 12

**ALRIGHT! FINNISHED IT!**

 **Ok, I dun fucked up… I accidentally deleted this chapter twice… it kinda sucks having to retype this EXACT SAME THING twice! I guess this means I have it how I want it… I mean, I've written the same damn thing THREE FUCKING TIMES NOW!**

 **Enough with my rant. I know in the last one that I said I would finish this no matter what, and I was going to start putting a lot more work into it. Of course, I will still try to do so, but it just so happens that right after I posted that, life threw more shit my way.**

 **For example, me deleting my story the first time was my fault, but the second time, it was my phone crashing because of a virus.**

 **Alright, I did leave that note in the middle because that information has not changed. Also, it only just so happens that I caught a break, so I decided to type some more to this and try to get it out in a better, and more complete fashion. By the time you're reading this, I have proof-read twice, written 3 times, re-written some parts nearly a dozen times, and gotten it just about as good as I can.**

 **But, before you start, I need to clear some things up. I tried to make this more interesting and unique in a way that hasn't been used before… BUT also in a way that doesn't seem really… far-fetched? I don't know, that's the only word I can think to use for the bullshit I put in chapter 11(I think it was chapter 11 anyways). I know the whole "underground bunker thing" was a really bad idea, I tried to fit my reasoning into the story without making it look like the characters already know it. But… I also did a bad job at that. So, I guess that since I can't go back in and change what's done, I will just try to explain it.**

 **Basically, I was going for something along the lines of, Human world went to shit, bombs, dictator, what ever you want, but then the cities were destroyed. However, the hidden bunkers and such were not. They hadn't been entered, and remained sealed for a very long time. Now, Elijah found one. I tried to make it seem as believable as possible, I made it so that there were not many guns, I will not make any vehicles or large explosives or anything like that. Sorry if you don't think it was good idea, but it's too late to fix it now.**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

It was 20 minutes before they left him alone. In the time he waited, his memory began to come back to him, and he soon could remember who the creatures were. However, he couldn't remember why he was hiding from them.

For that reason, he stayed hidden.

But, half an hour later, with broken ribs, a dislocated jaw and shoulder, a gash on his head, blurry and spotted vision, and what felt to be a shattered ankle, he wandered off in search of a place to think and sleep.

Two hours later, he had a low, shielded fire going within a small cave. The cave really wasn't a cave, however, and was more just an indent into the side of a small cliff. It went about 25 feet in, and had a sandy floor as well as a dense cover of trees to the front. Even with this cover of trees, he had a small wall of rocks stacked up on the outward side of his fire.

"Ow! Damn it!" He mumbled as he pricked himself with the needle for the fifth time. He had already wrapped his ribs tightly with cloth, as to keep the broken ones from moving, and left arm in a makeshift sling, and now he was adding the final stitches to the gash on his head. He also found out his ankle was not shattered, but was fractured somewhere. There wasn't much he could do about his jaw, so he left it alone.

He tied off the line, and put the needle back into his bag. He then sat and stared at the fire for a while, thinking, remembering.

Now, he could not only remember who his pursuers were, but the events of the last few weeks. However, he could not remember anything past reuniting with Aleah, Chandler and Gloria. He didn't like being away from them for what he assumed to be bad reasons, but even in his concussed state, he trusted himself to have run for a good reason.

Now, he just had to remember what the reason was.

His stomach growled loudly, tearing him from his thoughts. He sighed quietly, and pulled a bag of dried meat from his pack. Then, while he opened the small bag, he admired the fact that he still had his pack with him. Even after all this, it never left his side. He smiled at the memory of when he first got the bag, so many years ago. While he could remember the day he got it, he couldn't remember how long ago it was.

He winced as he chewed on the meat, as his jaw protested the action of chewing the meat. Elijah powered through the pain, as the pain given to him by the hunger was worse. However, while he chewed and stared into the fire, a sudden urge to sleep came over him.

He was surprised, and fought it for a few moments before recognizing the feeling of Ignitus beckoning to him. An instant after he stopped fighting, he was asleep.

•

•

He again awoke inside of a library, his pain gone and his headache a distant memory. He looked around, and saw the Blue Dragon peering into a pool of water.

"What're you looking at?" Elijah asked curiously.

"Your memories." He responded.

"Wait, what?! I didn't give you permission to do that!"

"Don't worry, it's mostly a bunch of meaningless ones, like the taste of food and entertainment. And to that I might add that your race has some amazing inventions!"

"Well, thanks, but I'm really not in the mood for this." Elijah said, and his gaze dropped.

"Hmm, trouble in paradise I believe is the phrase used by humans, correct?"

Elijah chuckled half heartedly before saying, "Well, not exactly the same thing, but I guess it's close enough."

Silence passed between them for a few seconds before Ignitus said in what Elijah could only compare to the voice of a Father, "Come here, I would like to show you something."

Elijah looked up, and saw Ignitus motioning for him to approach with his wing. Elijah slowly took a step forward, and then another, and a few more before he was standing next to the Dragon and facing the pool of water.

"Do you remember why you joined the fight your world was in?" He asked, surprising Elijah.

"Y-yeah, I guess." He responded hesitantly.

"In not sure you do." Ignitus said. Elijah continued to look at the pool, and soon saw images appearing.

A little memory…

It was late on a Friday night, and Elijah had just finished a late shift at work, because a shipment was late. He drove down a street in Billings Montana, the streetlights were glowing, and a dirty orange light reflected off the wet street. It had finished raining just an hour earlier, but it started nearly 7 hours ago.

It didn't rain too often in Montana, the storms, which were not heavy, normally blew past about 70 miles East or South. However, sometimes these storms that blew past caught a ride back north and hit Billings. These storms varied in strength. Sometimes they came back up at half strength, and lasted only around 20 or 30 minutes. Other times, they reformed and came back with 50 Mile per hour wind, hail, and gallons of rain.

But, on cases like today, they came back with a mixture of both cases. Large clouds, but only little bits of rain that came down for hours on end.

But, now the skies had cleared and a fresh breeze floated through the air. He drove a 2008, Ford F-150, Red, Crew-cab truck, and Elijah's motionless body laid inside the overturned truck. A smaller, tan car had not only ran the light Elijah was going through, but was going 45 Miles per Hour faster than the speed limit of 35. The collision left Elijah unconscious with a cut on his head and 4 broken ribs.

Not that he knew that…

He was suddenly jolted awake by the feeling of a liquid running down his thigh. He woke in a daze, wondering if he peed or something. Then he realized he was upside down, and the liquid was fuel running down his leg from the burst fuel line below the driver's side seat. His mind, although still in a daze, pieced together the possibility that the other car was low enough that it could have hit that line. But that was a longshot… but why else would there be fuel running up his leg right now?

He groaned loudly, and started working on a way to get out of the truck. He tried his seatbelt, but there was too much weight on the buckle for him to press the button in and release it. He let his arms hang loose while he tried to think. He tried to open the door, but it wouldn't move. He positioned his body to get a glance out the window to see why it wouldn't open.

Of course, the door had been hit and now it was bent out of shape, meaning, the door was wedged between the support frames.

Frustration was the only thing keeping him awake, as the dull pain and blood collecting in his head made him drowsy.

He then heard the crunch of feet on shattered glass, and a dull voice from somewhere close, "Hey, you alright in there?"

Elijah realized the man wasn't at his truck, but probably at the other car.

He didn't hear the response, but the steps then approached his truck, and he saw a head pop through the window.

"Hey, you hurt bad?" the man asked, but Elijah didn't have to answer, as more blood dropped off his head.

"Shit, let's get you out of there." The man said before disappearing. Elijah heard a grunt, and the metal groaned slightly before the door popped off. Surprised, Elijah wondered how he got the door off.

That is, until he heard a crowbar clatter to the cement a second later.

The man tugged at his belt, and then without a word, picked up a metal shard off the ground and cut the belt. He caught Elijah before he hit the ground, but then also noticed the smell of Gasoline. Time was running out. He dragged Elijah to the other end of the street and propped him up against a light pole before running back to the other car.

Elijah wasn't paying attention, and only 2 minutes later, the man returned carrying a small girl. She was crying, but as he set her down, she pointed back at the car and cried out, "Mommy!"

The man made a waiting gesture, then ran back to the car. By now, Elijah's attention was focused, and he studied the crash intently.

The other car was on the opposite side of his truck, so he couldn't see the man. But, he could see the gasoline dipping down onto the road. One spark from a radio or a cut wire could set it off…

The man came back around the truck with a woman over his shoulder and a purse in his hand. He set her down, and threw the bag at Elijah and said, "Find a phone and call 911!"

Elijah nodded, but the man was already talking again, "I'm going to make sure there's no one else in there!"

And he was off again, and he disappeared around the truck. Elijah began digging through the bag, and quickly found a phone. He used an Emergency call function on the home screen, and put it up to his ear.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" Asked a voice.

"Uh, well, I guess…" Elijah stammered for a second before composing himself and saying, "There was a car crash, and a man pulled me out as well as a few others. We need help."

"Sir, where are you? Can you give me a street name? Can you describe your location?"

"Uh, yeah, I'm on-"

He got no further. A massive fireball erupted from his truck as the fuel on the road ignited, then there was a delay in which nothing happened, a moment of peace.

The calm before the storm.

The trail of Gasoline trailed back up to the fuel tank as it dripped out, and the fire followed this line like a dog would a trail of jerky bits; Leaping to each drop before devouring it, and then jumping to the next one.

A deafening explosion that shook the ground erupted from his truck, and reached probably 20 feet high. It receded back down to only flames, but Elijah could not see because of the flash. His eyes adjusted again, and he looked in awe at the flames and wreckage that used to be his truck.

The man did not reappear. He was dead, and Elijah knew it. The man risked his life to save 3 and he went back to see if there were more.

He heard the girl sobbing softly.

He heard the crackle of the flame.

He felt the blistering heat of the fire on his face.

He heard faintly the operator's voice over the phone, "What was that? Are you OK? Sir!? Hello?! Where are you?!"

Elijah ended the call and mumbled, "I don't think I need to tell them where I am anymore…" and he sat back against the pole and stared into the flames.

A day later, he was sitting in the police station giving a statement to a detective, who told him, "It's only protocol that we get witnesses statements when property is damaged." To which Elijah only nodded and wrote down his statement. When he finished, the Detective offered to show him out and give him a ride home.

Elijah accepted the offer and followed him out. On the drive home, they stopped at a light, and the Detective looked over at Elijah, who was in the passenger seat, and asked, "Do you want to know who the man was?"

Elijah was surprised at first, but then nodded and said, "Y-Yeah, s-sure."

The man reached into his pocket, and pulled out a set of dog tags. Elijah was stunned by it, but let them drop into his hand.

"He was a homeless veteran. Marine, Master Sergeant. His record says he fought in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He had three Silver Stars, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and a Purple Heart in Afghanistan. He was sent home with 2 Gunshot wounds and deemed 'no longer fit for service' because of PTSD. Apparently he never slept, he jumped at every loud noise, he was startled easily, and a lack of sleep resulted in mental deterioration and fainting." There was a pause when the light turned green and they were moving again, but the man talked while he drove, "He was one of the few that we didn't help, and he was one of the few that deserved help the most."

Elijah then said quietly, "Even though he was neglected, he still gave his life to save others."

The detective nodded, and was quiet. The car was silent the rest of the ride, and Elijah only stared at the tags in his hand. He memorized every bit of information on it, every scratch, and every notch in the metal.

Broadstone

S. L. O NEG

314 30 4525

USMC L

NO PREF

There was a scratch down the middle, and another that went from left to right and reached about an eighth of the way across. There was one chip in the bottom edge.

Elijah had that image imprinted in his mind on the day he enlisted, 3 months later.

End Memory…

Elijah woke with his face in the cold sand, and he realized he was back in the real world and not with Ignitus. He slowly pushed himself up, bracing for the pain that would follow.

However, none came. Surprised, he looked over his body, and found that there was still blood everywhere, along with the cuts that caused them, but the major injuries were fixed. His ribs were no longer broken, his shoulder was fine, his jaw worked again, and the headache that clouded his mind had faded substantially. However, the gash on his head was also not healed, much to Elijah's disappointment.

It then hit him that he could remember what happened. Lillian and Emily got jealous and fought 2 other dragonesses. When Elijah tried to stop them, Lillian's tail flew out and hit him across the chest, breaking ribs. He then hit a tree, dislocating his jaw and cutting his head, and hit the ground, dislocating his shoulder. At first, he wondered why Lillian would do that, but realized that she hadn't meant to.

At that realization, he felt a great deal of sadness, for he knew she would blame herself for it. But at the same time, he felt that she WAS to blame for it…

And that scared him. He knew it was an accident, but he couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal from her, and Emily's, disregard for both his safety and opinion.

He rubbed his eyes with his fingers, then put his face in his hands and mumbled, "This isn't turning out the way I hoped…"

A voice inside his head whispered to him, Of course it's not, they're dragons. You're human. They are big. You are small. It can't work out, and you know it.

He tried to ignore it, but he knew it was true.

You need to get out before it's too late. Before you get killed.

"But I can't break their hearts! Nor mine, I love them too."

Are they worth risking death?

Elijah knew he was arguing with himself, and that it looked stupid. But, it drew out the question he had but couldn't previously ask. But now it was out there…

And he still would not answer it.

It wasn't a matter of 'could not' or 'Did not know how too,' but instead a matter of he simply would not. He wouldn't face that question, no matter how much the rational part of his told him he needed to. Nor could he convince himself to face them again.

But he couldn't stand the thought of staying away either. He HAD to see them again. He stood up, and threw some sand into the glowing embers that used to be his fire. He swung his bag over his shoulder, and set out into the night.

He backtracked all the way to the tree he hid in, and after that it was only a matter of following tracks. And that really wasn't hard considering they were dragons, so their footsteps were quite obvious. He followed them for quite some time, but stayed off to the side, hidden in the trees. The air smelt of wood smoke, and he knew he was close.

It was nearly dawn by the time he found a spot overlooking both the cave he stayed in and the camp below it. The sky was pale and the birds chirped happily in the trees while the sky slowly brightened to the east, bringing warmth to the chilly morning.

He noticed that none had entered or edited the cave, but he had seen Emily, Aleah, and Chandler approach a few times. He also had to dodge a few patrols to get to his spot

But not once so far had he seen Lillian.

He figured she was in the cave, but, that was also the place he needed to get too.

He sighed and slowly began to make his way down to the entrance. As he entered, he found Lillian sleeping fitfully in the middle of the room. She shivered slightly, and she made unhappy grunts and whimpers in her sleep.

It destroyed Elijah to see one he loved so much in this state. He couldn't bring his eyes off her, as she continued to whimper in her sleep. Soon, when he could watch no longer, he approached her curled up body. She was laying in a crescent shaped form, with the tip of her tail near her head. He carefully stepped over her tail, and sat down beside her head. He cautiously placed one hand on the top of her head, then leaned his body against her chest.

He felt her tense even more for a moment, then relax entirely with a large sigh. Her breathing normalized, and the shuddering stopped as well as the noises. Aside from a few shifts in her sleep, she was now still and seemingly content.

 _Lillian awoke. Not only now awake, but trying to find a way to apologize to Elijah, who was leaning against her. Away to make him stay. A way to let him know how sorry she was._

 _A way to make him forgive her._

 _All thoughts left her mind when he began stroking her head, and pure bliss filled her._

 _Elijah was surprised when she started making a noise that he could only compare to that of a cat's purr. Even then, this sounded different… a cat's purr was normally a reaction to pleasant feeling, but this was different…_

 _"Are you awake?" He asked suspiciously._

 _She shifted her head to look at him and she opened her eyes and said, "I'm so sorry for what happened! For what I did!"_

 _Elijah said nothing, but stared at her, a blank expression._

 _"Please come back to me, to us! Emily needs you too! We all do!" she exclaimed, and Elijah's response shocked her,_

 _"You should have thought of that before you damn near killed me with your tail."_

 _"I know, I'm sorry… please forgive me…"_

 _He scoffed, and stood up. He walked away from her, and stopped a few feet away. With his back to her, he said coldly, "I'm just here to get my stuff."_

 _"Y-You're not staying?" She said in disbelief._

 _"Ha! I never planned on staying! I'm just here for myself, no one else. You and Emily can love each other, and besides, it never could have worked out between us. I mean, c'mon! A human and 2 Dragonesses?!"_

 _She was shocked beyond belief._

 _He picked up his bag, grabbed his guns, and walked to the exit, but then stopped and said, "I would say good Luck… but… you really don't stand a chance against Malefor."_

 _And he walked out_.

Lillian woke with a scream of terror and sadness, breathing heavily. However, soon the terror of the dream left her as she realized it didn't happen.

That there was still a chance Elijah might still love her. Or, if not love, then at least forgiveness. She opened her eyes and Iooked around, and a moment after she scanned the room, her eyes snapped back to a specific, empty, spot on the floor.

The place Elijah's weapons and sleeping bag had been.

 **Not bad if I do say so myself… just a heads up, I plan on ending this story soon, possibly next chapter. Don't worry, it won't be a rushed ending or anything. But, if I am to fit everything I plan to into one chapter, it is going to be one long chapter, so it could take quite some time. Btw by long chapter, I mean like 10,000 to 15,000 words… I mean, this one took, what? 3 weeks I think? And it's only 4,000 words, so to make one 2-3 times longer is going to be quite a commitment on my part.**

 **Also, I have to be honest, I'm not sure you guys will like the ending I have in mind, so if you think you have the perfect ending for this story in mind, send me a PM please? Note, I will not tell you if your idea will be used or not, just to keep it a surprise (:**

 **Alright, talk to you again in the next, possibly final, chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

No, the story isn't dead. Not yet. I just hit a bad patch, some bad depression, my grades dropped, things were bad at home, and I overall wasn't doing well motivation wise.

Over the summer, I completely forgot about this. Now that school has started up again, and I remembered this, I really just don't have time.

However, I recently found plenty of time, which I will use to finish this story... AND get a good start on a new story that I am taking up for a friend. More about that story later, but i should actually have the final chapter of this story posted in just a few hours, and if not, then before this time tomorrow!


	14. Chapter 14

**Ok, I made a few adjustments to the last chapter… nothing major, but it does have a large effect on the progression of the story. Don't read the entire thing again, just the last 6 Paragraphs or so.**

 **Also, the way I wrote this chapter will seem very… bleak and depressing… and all around the wrong mood for what I had intended. So, I added a song to this one, and I feel it gives the chapter the proper tone. Listen to it before hand or while you read, I don't care, just please listen too it. If you don't, the chapter will not convey the right tone, and you will probably not like it. Search this on YouTube…**

 **Bring me back to life**

 **No, not the one by Evanescence, it's by a youtuber called TrailerMusic. I know it's weird, but it's a good song. Anyways, enjoy!**

Elijah exited the cave, and almost immediately heard Lillian awake with a yell. He then hesitated, wanting to go back and help. But, he forced his legs to carry him away, back through the camp, back to his new home.

As he sat in the cave, in front of the newly stoked fire, his thoughts wandered to what would happen If he were caught there.

He could imagine their faces and questions, 'Why did you run?' Why didn't you come back?' 'Why are you sneaking around?' 'Will you ever forgive me?'

The only of those questions he had a definite answer for, was the last one, and it was a firm yes. But the rest of them were unknown to him, not to mention awkward in origin.

He groaned in frustration, then sighed. He pulled the rifle out in front of him, and proceeded to examine it. It was a very powerful weapon, he realized, and not actually an M4, as he previously thought. It was actually a Heckler & Koch HK416N, with a 16.5 inch barrel, an Aimpoint CompM4 Red dot sight, and a Vertical Foregrip. He remembered that only special teams got this gun, but he did remember a lot about it.

It weighed 7.35 Lbs. and had a length of 28.3 inches with a magazine size of 35 rounds. It fired 5.56x45mm NATO rounds at a rate of 700-900 rounds per minute. With an effective firing range of 300 Meters and max firing range of 400, and a selectable fire mode of semi, 3-round burst, or auto, it was any soldier's dream rifle.

And now he had one, with 6 clips and 210 bullets total. After his examination, he proceeded to clean the rifle and his pistol.

While doing so, a thought popped into his head, 'Huh…. I guess I knew more about it than I thought.'

Back at camp…

"You're sure he was here?" Asked Aleah, to which Lillian responded, "Yes, I know he was! His bag and stuff are gone!"

It had been an hour since Lillian awoke from her terrible dream, and about 10 minutes since she noticed Elijah's gear was gone. They were hopeful now, knowing that he was still alive. However, before anyone could voice this hope, they heard a commotion from the mouth of the cave. They turned to face the entrance, and smiled broadly when they saw a familiar, purple dragon walk in.

Spyro was followed by 4 other dragons; Cynder, Terrador, Cyril, and Volteer.

They greeted each other happily. That is, until Spyro asked, "Where is Elijah?"

The air grew tense, as none wanted to answer the question. Seeing this, Terrador stepped forward and asked them more sternly, "Where is Elijah?"

"Well…" Aleah started, but Lillian interrupted her, "It was my fault, I accidentally hit him with my tail, he hit a tree and hurt his head pretty badly. He ran when we found him."

"You let him go?!" Cyril yelled, but Aleah shook her head and answered for Lillian, "Of course not! He hid from us."

"We need to go find him, before someone else does!" Volteer said, and the other 2 guardians agreed. However, Lillian stopped them with, "It's no use. He won't be found unless he wants to be found."

"How do you know he isn't hurt? You said yourself that he hurt his head badly." Terrador challenged, but Lillian reinforced her argument with, "No, he has to be alive and well. He was here recently, and he took his gear."

Suddenly, the others could see an uncertainty growing on the 3 guardians, and they obviously didn't want to voice this uncertainty. But, Lillian couldn't help but ask what the problem was. Terrador answered with a great deal of discomfort and distaste of the idea, "Normally…. When someone takes their things and leaves…. It means…. Well, uh…"

Both Lillian and Emily's eyes grew wide, and they both denied it promptly, both yelling reasons why he wouldn't take everything, then up and leave them all.

Terrador tried to calm them with, "Ok, ok! It was just a possibility."

"No, its not a possibility." Emily said commandingly. Silence followed then after, and it persisted for a few minutes before Cyril asked, "So… what do we do now? Just wait?"

"Well… yeah, I guess."

Six days later, Elijah was feeling more depressed than he ever thought possible. He spent more and more time around their camp, and he was pretty sure that ever since the others had shown up, that Spyro had spotted him once or twice. He didn't know why Spyro didn't go after him, but he was glad he didn't.

And now he was walking back towards their camp.

He was walking through the trees when he noticed something…. Off. He didn't know what it was.

Then it hit him, there were several branches out of position on his path. However, while he knew that branches could have been broken by his allies, the branches he noticed were not at his height… there were several branches missing from the tops of the trees, allowing an unusual amount of sunlight into his path. He was aware instantly of the probability of apes, and unshouldered his weapon. He carefully made his way forward.

Every step he took was only made after scanning everything around him. He inched forward at an almost ridiculous pace, but in the end it paid off. He found the apes that were spying on camp, and began spying on them. They said nothing to each other, but soon made a hand gesture.

Seconds after the gesture, they both receded away from camp.

He followed the ape scouts for hours, and soon found the smell of smoke in the air. He left the scout's trail, and bolted to the edge of a clearing, and looked out across a deep valley with a crystal blue river running through the bottom. However, on the other side of the valley, was a terrifying and impressive sight.

Hundreds of apes, and probably around a dozen and a half armored dragons. And amidst the hundreds of ape tents, walked a single purple dragon that towered above it all; Malefor.

The dragon wore no armor, but had obviously shined his scales and sharpened his horns. Light reflected of the muscled dragon's scales, and he had a malicious smile on his face. Elijah could only stare in shock for a few seconds, before he finally managed to tear his eyes away from the sight. He had to warn the others, and quickly. So, he ran back. He ran faster than he thought possible.

Effect of absolute terror, he realized. He was scared beyond comprehension, and terrible thoughts flowed into his mind, no matter how hard he tried to stop them. He was picturing the camp burning, and his family burning with it. Emily and Lillian, he realized, would die if he didn't do something.

But what could he do?

He was a single Human. He was one man. He was one, terror filled, weak, emotionally unstable human being. What could one human do?

He kept running, and running, and running, the only thing keeping him from keeling over and puking his guts out was the image of Lillian and Emily in his head. He focused on that picture, and that picture developed into a memory, and that memory into a fantasy.

They were all smiling, happy, and relaxed. They were running through a hilly field in the brilliant sunshine playing a version of tag that Emily came up with. It wasn't fair for Elijah, obviously. However, he was still having fun.

Elijah got so lost in the day dream, that he hit a tree. Smack-center in his forehead. He became angry with himself, and beat himself up even more about it. About 10 minutes later, after not remembering much of the run, he came upon the camp. He froze right in the center, and dozens of surprised eyes turned on him. It was dead-silent for only 30 seconds, but felt like an eternity to all involved.

Elijah regained his composure, and ran steadily towards the cave at the top of the hill. The other creatures followed with their eyes, but were rooted to the spot they stood. Elijah burst into the cave, and saw all his friends turn to him. Then the silence overcame the room just as it did the camp outside.

Elijah was at a loss for words, and could only gape at them with his mouth open. It was Spyro who broke the silence by yelling, "Where have you been!?"

Elijah had no answer for that question, and remained silent.

"Why didn't you come back?!" Aleah yelled.

Again, he had no answer, but this time he found the words to form what he needed to say, "It doesn't matter-"

"Like hell it doesn't!" Terrador interrupted, and received a glare from Elijah.

"I know you have questions! But we don't have time! There is an army of apes and armored dragons camped not more than 20 miles south of here! There are Hundreds! You guys need to leave!" Elijah yelled, before they could interrupt again.

There was stunned silence for a moment, but then Aleah said, "No, we will fight them!"

But Elijah shook his head and said softly, "No, you don't understand… Malefor himself leads this army of apes and dragons."

More stunned silence. Elijah realized he was getting a lot of that today….

"You need to leave! Before they attack!" Elijah repeated, but before anyone could reply, Lillian asked,

"Why do you keep saying, 'You need to leave'?"

Elijah did not need to respond to that, his silence said it all. Disbelief showed on every face; except Lillian and Emily's. For whichever reason (There were many such reasons), they had expressions of dread and terror and anger.

But there was nothing he could do for them, he knew he had to do this... Again…

That same memory seemed to be going through Aleah's head too, because she shook her head and said, "No! It didn't work out well the last time you stayed behind while we ran! It won't work out well this time, either!"

"I know it won't, but it will end better than if we all stayed. Besides, I've kinda ruined my image for the others…"

"Who cares what they think?!" Emily blurted out, but hesitated before continuing a bit more calmly, "All that matters is what we think-"

"It also matters how I view myself." Elijah interrupted, then realized this was a waste of time.

"We don't have time for this! You need to pack up and leave! Now!"

Spyro stepped up, with Cynder at his side, and said, "Maybe he's right… we aren't ready to fight again. Not yet."

The guardians seemed to agree. All but one, anyways. Lillian and Emily said nothing, but everyone could feel that they would not go willingly.

"Ok, you guys get to work packing things up and getting ready to move everyone."

They did not argue, but Lillian also did not move. He followed them to the exit, but waited until they left before turning around and saying, "Lillian."

She looked up at him, surprised.

"I forgive you." Was all he said, and walked out after seeing the relief flood every part of her body.

He avoided talking about anything but getting them ready to leave. Every time someone asked him about it, he only brought the subject back to packing up. He knew he wouldn't avoid it forever, but he still tried his best to do just that.

An hour later, just when every tent, sword, spear, and morsel of food was made ready to move, and Elijah thought he avoided the topic, he was cornered by Spyro, Cynder, Aleah, Chandler, Hunter, Tristan, Emily, and Lillian. He realized it was time to face them.

With a sigh, he leaned against a nearby tree and awaited the conversation.

"What are you planning on doing?" Aleah asked.

"I plan to fight them off for as long as possible." He responded, to which Chandler immediately replied, "No! Not as long as possible, you are going to fight them off, then catch up to us!"

At that moment, Chandler, too Elijah's eyes, looked like the young dragon he trained months ago, and it softened his expression immensely.

"You won't leave us again." Chandler stated.

"He's right, you need to stay alive! You won't have someone to save you this time." Hunter said, too which Elijah replied, "I know, but I don't have a choice. You all know it's what I'm best at, fighting to the death, the enemy's or my own."

"You can't do this too us again! We almost lost you the first time, we can't do it again." Aleah said.

"That's where you're wrong," Elijah said, "I'm not doing this 'Too' you, I'm doing this FOR you! For all of you!"

"But no one asked you too." Spyro said, causing Elijah to stop and think a response. A second later, he replied with, "No one asked you to save Cynder."

Spyro was surprised, and asked, "What does Cynder have to do with it?"

"No one asked you to save Cynder. They said she didn't deserve it. You knew it would be difficult to help her, possibly cost you your life, but you did it anyways. No one asked. If someone needs to ask you to do what's right, or if you stop doing what's right when someone asks you to stop, you should not be trusted to help anyone."

It was silent, and none responded to him. However, while he did see understanding, he didn't quite see full conviction, so he added, "So you see, I can't stop halfway, I can't half-ass this, I WILL not run away and risk all of your lives."

"But if you die, we might still die after."

"I know that, but I'm doing all I can do to reduce that chance."

Suddenly, Terrador landed nearby and shouted, "Ape scouts were just spotted and captured! They said they were part of an advance party. We need to leave, Now!"

Reluctantly, they all started a slow walk back to where the rest of the survivors were waiting to leave. Elijah watched sadly as they disappeared around a clump of trees. He then noticed a small on the air; There was a Storm coming.

8 Hours later, the sun had been down for 2 hours and the storm was overhead, dumping rain. Elijah sat, rather uncomfortably he thought, in a 50 foot pine tree. His rifle hung from his left shoulder, and to his right was an M24 Marksman's rifle from the armory. It hung from a branch by it's shoulder strap at an easy reaching distance.

Elijah himself huddled under an Aluminum Emergency blanket he found. He was numb. He was distracted. He knew Malefor's army would appear at any moment, or in a few hours. Either way, he needed to concentrate, and worrying about the others, as he was currently doing, was keeping him from concentrating.

Angrily, he forced every thought from his mind, and went numb. He moved from there.

He felt nothing, at first.

Then he allowed his senses to open up a little. He smelt the dirty smell of rain, and sweet sap of a pine tree.

A bit more, and he felt the wet, sticky pull of his cloths, and the biting cold as the wind hit him.

A little more. He heard the rain pattering around him, on the leaves, in puddles, on stones, and the distant rumble of thunder. And above that distant rumble, the flap of wings…

Elijah was in action immediately, grabbing the M24 and throwing aside the blanket. He listened carefully, and waited until they were close. Knowing he would see nothing in the dark sky, he kept his eyes closed and used his ears.

5 Dragons, approaching from 45 feet above him to his 7 o'clock. He raised the weapon and fired once, bolted, positioned, and fired again. He repeated until his 7 round clip was empty and he heard 4 dull thuds over the rain. The remaining dragon flapped away, in a panic as far as Elijah could hear, and Elijah woke from the little trance he was in.

He had no memory of how he accomplished that, but he did remember doing it. It just didn't feel like he was in control. He was exhausted, and he knew they wouldn't be back before morning, so he grabbed the blanket again and curled up. While he slept, Ignitus paid him another visit.

And he brought someone else, too.

Elijah woke in a large library yet again, and looked around to see not one, but two dragons; and neither of them were the dragon he was expecting to see.

Spyro and Cynder looked at him from across the room, with sad smiles on their faces.

"Why are you guys here?" Elijah asked, to which Spyro replied, "We are sleeping, just like you, and the Chronicler has a few things for us to teach you, in preparation for your fight against Malefor."

"Like what?" Elijah asked half heartedly, as he thought there was no chance he could beat Malefor.

"Such as how to use your Shadow ability." Cynder said, and then Spyro added, "And how to avoid Malefor's attacks and what to look for when you fight him."

Now Elijah's attention was peaked, and he attentively listened to them after he said, "Ok, teach me."

"Ok, so, pay attention to his body movements, he flares his nostrils when he is going to use a breath attack…."

And so they continued to instruct Elijah on Malefor's attacks and what to watch for. After 2 hours of that, Elijah moved on to learning the shadow ability from Cynder. That one took a while.

Cynder taught him to think of everything he knew about shadows, and erase everything except a visual of what his own shadow looks like, and what it looks like when he moves. Then she taught him to forget even that, and then to picture only himself. And then nothing yet again. And then she told him to picture darkness, and when he went to say he didn't know what darkness looked like, he felt something.

And nothing.

It was cold, but comfortable. Hard, rigid and unyielding, and also welcoming and safe. He was a shadow for the second time, and now he knew how to control it.

Of course, all this was not achieved first try, it took 3 hours of painstaking failure, sweat, a few tears, and a whole lot of curses.

When he succeeded for the first time, he saw their happy, smiling faces. But something more, he felt a connection he hadn't felt in a long time; Family.

These two, Spyro and Cynder, along with Aleah, Chandler, Gloria, Lillian, and Emily, had become family to him. His relatives, mother, father, siblings, grandparents, aunts, etc. all died before he was 17, so he hadn't felt the feeling of having a family in years.

But now he did. And he kind of regretted having decided to do this on his own, but still knew it was the only way it could happen. A smile then appeared on Elijah's face, surprising Spyro and Cynder.

But even more surprising to the two dragons, was the fact that, next, he approached them and went down on one knee… and hugged them both. It took a few seconds for them to react, but they returned the show of affection by wrapping their wings around his back. The embrace lasted for a few minutes, but did come to an end.

They backed away from each other, and Spyro said one last thing, "We will be watching you fight… your story will be told for generations to come, you will not be forgotten."

"Thank you." Was all Elijah said.

The next thing Elijah knew, he was awake in the tree again.

When dawn finally arrived, and the sun peeked out from behind the distant trees, and the rain clouds had cleared, Elijah found 4 large dragons dead in the mud.

One of them was dead before it hit the ground, Elijah assumed, but the other 3 definitely died only after crashing, having broke their necks.

Elijah then adopted a new strategy, and left the M24 behind.

"Time to face this head on." he said to himself, but really he was thinking something more along the lines of, 'There's no turning back, now.'

He grabbed his HK416N, and went back into the 'bunker' for other supplies.

He had a plan. And while it didn't have much chance of success, when he viewed it in his mind's eye, it excited him.

After 2 hours of scavenging through useless junk, he had his supplies. On a small foldup table he moved outside, he had 200 feet of rope, an axe, a hand drill, 10 rolls of tape, a saw, a few dozen burlap sacks, and a shovel. Before he did anything, he took 3 hours to walk to Malefor's camp and back, just to make sure they weren't on their way yet.

He was unsettled by their seemingly quick set up, thinking it would be too easy for them to simply tear it all down and attack.

So, he did something about it.

He began his walk back to camp, a smile on his face, while a small fire raged in Malefor's camp behind him.

The moment he got back, he began digging. He started with digging a small trench, about 4 feet deep, 3 feet wide, and 10 feet long. He used the dirt from the hole to fill the burlap sacks, which he then stacked off to the side for later. He started working on chopping down a tree, which fell about 15 minutes later. From there, he worked on sawing the large tree into smaller logs, each only about 7 feet long. Considering the tree was only 68 feet, he only got 6 logs out of it before the trunk became to narrow for him to use.

Then, he repeated.

He toiled for hours, cutting trees, then cutting them into smaller logs. When he finished, he was hungry and tired, and his cloths soaked with sweat. He managed a total of 36 logs.

Ignoring the hunger pains and exhaustion, he continued on. He used the shovel to dig a small, circle of 8 hopes in one area, about as wide as the logs and a foot deep. When he finished, he planted the base of the holes, then filled in the space between with the sandbags, as high as his lower chest. From there, he used an old tarp and laid it over the top.

Satisfied, he began working on moving as much ammo as he could into the Trench and the makeshift bunker, including the 3 frag grenades. He loaded as many clips as he could find, which only amounted to a total of 14 Magazines, each of 35 rounds. In total, he had about 490 rounds to fire, but he knew he wouldn't use more than a few clips before the fight turned to a close-quarter fight, and the assault rifle would be more of a burden than a weapon when that happened.

The pistol and sword on the other hand…. They would form a deadly and efficient combo under those conditions. He wasn't as practiced with the sword he had, but it was a far better choice than his knife. But, as hard as he tried, he could not force himself to leave the knife behind. So, he simply kept it strapped to his hip.

Now he was not only ready to face whatever Malefor would throw at him, but also to throw a few things back. He wasn't going to go down without taking those damned apes with him, and a few pieces of Malefor while he was at it…

His stomach growled, and he realized he would need to eat before his big fight. Realizing it could very well, and more than likely, be his last meal, and he remembered a few things he had been saving for a long time…

He got a fire going, then fetched his bag. Out of it, he pulled a single Graham cracker, one marshmallow, and half a Hershey chocolate bar. He set these objects aside, and first ate a meal of dried meat washed down with water. When he finished, he found a small branch, skinny and long, and used his knife to cut away the bark.

He roasted the marshmallow carefully, not wanting to burn it. He slowly turned it above the fire for a few minutes, until the white, sugary treat was roasted to golden perfection. He removed it from the stick, and finished stacking the Marshmallow between the crackers and chocolate.

He smiled at the near perfect S'more he made, and, similar to that of a child, he excitedly devoured the sugary snack. As he licked the sticky substance off his lips, he was quietly hoping that Spyro and the others were not watching that….

Elsewhere….

Lillian stepped in front of Spyro, who was leading the column of warriors away from their previous refuge, away from her future, away from Elijah.

"We have to go back." She stated, but Spyro shook his head sadly, and said, "You know we can't do that, Elijah said-"

But she cut him off sharply, "But you know as well as I that he will die! Are we really about to let that happen?!"

By now, the others had bunched up, trying to convince Lillian to move on, but she would have none of it.

Eventually, she let loose a deep growl, silencing the voices of all three other guardians, and each of her friends. By now, Some of the other warriors behind them, cheetah, mole, and dragons alike, were watching with interest as the newest of the guardians silenced each of the others and the two saviors of their world with a simple growl.

She raised her head so they could so hear, but kept her conversation directed at those infront of her, "Do you not realize this, too? He will die out there, alone, suffering, in pain, and far from his friends and family!"

"But he said-" tried Spyro again, but was again cut off, "I remember someone telling me once, that if someone has to ask you to fight, or do the right thing, then you are in the wrong."

After a moment of stunned silence, the words sank in.

"Well… that's not exactly what Elijah said, but I think we get the meaning…" Hunter said, then walked up and stood next to Lillian want faced the others.

"I agree, and while there is a difference between being told not to help and not being asked too, we need to realize the difference between confidence, and declaration. Elijah's actions are resulted from pure desperation, and I'm sure even he knows he will not defeat Malefor's army. It's up to us to decide weather or not to let him die out there for us, or if we are to take a chance… a chance that we could fight and win… or all die together…"

Next it was Emily to step up and stand beside them.

"I will take the chance."

"Me too" Said Aleah, as she stepped up to join them.

A few minutes later, everyone but the three remaining guardians remained indecisive. After a few minutes of thinking, Terrador looked at Cyril, who nodded, then at Volteer, who also nodded. Terrador then turned a broad smile on Lillian and he said loudly, "What're we still doing here?! We've got an army of apes to defeat and a friend to save!"

With Elijah, about 4 hours later...

Motion caught his eye.

To his far left, along the tree line, he saw an ape among the trees. He turned slowly and deliberately, and stared at the ape for a few seconds. When he was sure the ape knew he was spotted, he slowly stuck his hand up, and stuck one finger out. He held his middle finger up until the ape turned and disappeared into the trees. He smiled to himself, amused by his last second thought to offend the ape in a way the ape would never understand.

He spent the next 3 hours sitting in his trench, waiting.

When Malefor's army finally showed its ugly face, Elijah was bored. They came out in waves, all lined up across the trees. They held shaky looking wooden spears, along with large wooden shields. Each wave was about 25 columns by 3 rows. Or, at least, that was what the first wave was, he realized, as the second wave was nearly twice the size, at 40 columns by 6 rows, and was much better equipped. They held sharp, sturdy short swords, and held shields with iron bracings, and most had partial armor plating that covered much of their torsos.

A minute later, another wave advanced across the field, the same size as the first, but these apes held crude bows with makeshift quivers over their shoulders that held equally crude looking arrows.

Then came the dragons. They flew up over the trees swiftly, and then, the 6 remaining dragons landed. The ground shook as all 6 hit the ground simultaneously, and all was still.

It was silent.

Elijah stared at his enemy, with a blank stare, as the apes and dragons stared back, however, with malicious smiles and sharp eyes. They already thought they had won.

Then he realized, they already had won. He had no chance at killing a hundred apes and 6 Dragons! But, he had made his choice, and now he had to face the consequences.

But so did they, he thought. They had to face consequences of their own….

And idea popped into his mind. He stood up, and climbed out of the trench, and advanced on the army. He stopped 50 feet away, and with his rifle shouldered, and called out, "So, you all think you've already won, right?"

He didn't need an answer, and they didn't give one, so he continued, "How many of you do you think Will die beers I do? I'm sure word spread about what I did a few weeks ago to a group of apes in a village! So I'll ask again, how many of you will die before I do? And who wants to be the ones to die? Because some of you will die."

"We will fight you until Malefor tells us to stop!" He heard a shout from a dragon.

"Really?" Elijah replied, "And where is he? Why isn't he leading you? I saw him, I know he's here. Is he scared to face me again? After I kicked his purple ass the last time?"

His goal was to draw out Malefor, because he knew, from what Cynder and Sypro taught him, that Malefor would wait until he was weak, and then finish him. Had he allowed Malefor the luxury of this plan, he would stand no chance. But, if he fought him now, while he had his full strength, he might actually win.

Of course, the apes would still get him, but at least Malefor would be dead. That is, if he accepted his challenge….

A few seconds later, his challenge was accepted, when Elijah saw a large purple dragon appear above the trees, and fly towards them. The large dragon circled slowly a few times before landing between Elijah and the army of apes with an earth-trembling impact. The dragon then unleashed an ear-shattering roar, nearly deafening his own army.

When the show of power was over, Elijah merely stood, smiling at Malefor with a devious grin. Malefor did not show any sign of surprise or… really much of anything, but Elijah could tell his actions were throwing the large purple dragon off.

"So, you finally got off your ass to come fight me, huh?" Elijah prodded, but the only response he got was a low, threatening growl.

"Is that supposed to scare me? I kicked your purple, scaled but last time, I'll do it again!"

Malefor remained in a calm, controlled appearance, but his eyes betrayed him, Elijah could practically feel the rage radiating from his yellow eyes.

"I've grown much stronger since then, hairless ape." Malefor replied, disgust lacing the last 2 words of the sentence.

"And you think I haven't?" Elijah replied, ignoring the comment, "I've been honing my skills, learning new abilities, practicing, preparing for you again! I will finish my work where I left off last time."

Malefor grinned, and said calmly, "Let's put your new skills to the test then, shall we….?"

At that moment, Elijah saw Malefor's tail flick out, aimed at his throat. Elijah side stepped instantly, letting the dangerous tail blade slide past him, and in one swift movement, roll over his left shoulder, closer to Malefor's legs, and fire 4 rounds into the dragon's right ankle. He jumped back before the dragon could retaliate, but was far from done in his assault.

Taking advantage of Malefor's, if only slightly, dazed state, he charged at the dragon and, using his knife, jumped at the dragon's shoulder and brought the knife down, leaving a large cut. Upon coming back down, he had to jump and dance around to avoid being crushed or swiped with the tail. Seeing no alternative, he dove under Malefor's belly, and crawled to the other side.

By the time Malefor realized Elijah was on his left side now, he already put distance between them to catch his breath.

However, enraged, Malefor did not allow him, and charged immediately. Elijah barely got out of the way of Malefor's Sharp claws and extended maw. However, he was unable to escape the tail…

It caught him on the upper part of his left arm, and Elijah quickly felt the burning pain and warm sensation as blood oozed out of the slash. However, with the adrenaline pumping, he quickly forgot it, and was on his feet again.

He didn't have time to do any thing more than think about how to dodge the next attack, as Malefor shot a fireball at him. It landed 2 feet away from him, and exploded in a fiery mass that sent him tumbling through the air.

After he landed, Malefor did something he didn't expect; he didn't kill him. Instead, he racked his claws across his chest.

Elijah yelled out in pain, but then Malefor did another thing that Elijah would never have expected; He simply watched as Elijah recovered, then stood up.

However, before Elijah could recover completely, he was forced to dodge a number of attacks that came from Malefor, ranging from fireballs, to flames, to tail strikes, to lightning bolts. Just when it seemed like Malefor was about done with his barrage, Elijah slipped and was grazed by a fireball. Malefor took advantage of his mistake, and moved, lightning fast, and pinned Elijah to the ground With his paws.

Elijah struggled, obviously, but could do absolutely nothing against the dragon's superior strength and weight. Elijah looked up at the now sneering face of Malefor, and awaited for whatever was to happen next.

'It would appear that Malefor is done playing around', he thought, 'well… so am I.'

The dragon laughed manically at his triumph… at Elijah… before saying slowly, "Looks like you've lost, Human! You should have given up and joined me when you had the chance… Even when facing me, you ignored the fact that you had no chance of defeating me... and did it alone. You don't know when to quit… and now, because of your ignorance, you… will… die…."

Elijah stopped squirming, remembering that "Trick" Cynder taught him, but decided to try and play a few tricks with Malefor's mind while he was at it.

"You're right… I don't know when to quit," He mentally noted how cheesy that line was, but continued on, "and you're also correct about me dying. However, my death will not be caused by ignorance. If anything, I will die because of the fire in my heart! And one last thing… My death may come today… but it will NOT BE DELIVERED BY YOU!"

With that, he sank into the shadows, and slipped away from death itself. He reappeared about 5 feet in front of Malefor. He saw the surprise in Malefor's eyes, but more than that… he saw just a little bit of fear.

Elijah jumped forward at Malefor's head, and buried his knife into the dragon's snout. He reared back with a cry of pain.

Elijah took advantage of the time he bought himself, and grabbed his rifle off the ground. He then proceeded to turn around and fire a few rounds into Malefor, not caring what part they hit. After he emptied the clip, he simply dropped the gun and stared at his foe. As Malefor attempted to remove the knife from his muzzle, Elijah noticed he was already tiring.

He smiled, and called out, "So, you decided to face me before you reached your full power, hmm?"

Malefor looked up and snarled at him before he leaped at Elijah in rage. Elijah could immediately tell that he really wasn't at his full power, his attacks were slowing, and his thoughts clouded with rage. Elijah slipped into the shadows quickly, avoiding the attack, only to reappear a few feet to the left.

He then jumped to avoid the tail this time.

He had lost the rifle on the ground, and pulled his M9 from its holster on his thigh, and unloaded 4 rounds into the surprised dragon's backside. Malefor realized in that moment he could not win, or, not alone at least. He quickly signaled to his apes to join the attack. A group of 15 apes charged Elijah, but didn't make it within 30 feet of him before being dropped by arrows that seemingly sprouted from their chests.

Elijah looked around, but he already knew who it was that had done it. And sure enough, out of the trees came his friends, followed by their own army. They formed a ragged line on either side of him, and stared down the apes.

Spyro, on his right, was the one to look at him, smile, and say, "We couldn't let you have all the fun, now could we? Besides, it seems like you have Malefor under control as it is."

Elijah huffed lightly, but turned to face Malefor, who had a look of hatred painted on every inch of his body.

"Alright, sure, you guys take the apes…. I'll take Malefor." He said, then grinned.

All hell broke loose after that. It was a mixture of apes, dragons and cheetahs fighting, but Elijah was concentrated on one thing in the entire battle. As the battle around them raged, there was an odd circle around Elijah and Malefor where none dared to step.

Malefor had one last trick to play, Elijah learned, as Malefor moved with blazing speed. Elijah hadn't so much as seen what hit him before he flew backwards and hit the ground. He was stunned and confused, and Malefor managed to deal some decent damage. But… it all went downhill for Malefor from there.

He tried to impale Elijah while he was down, but he rolled to the left. As he did so, he grabbed the sword of a fallen ape, and proceeded to cut, stab, and slash at Malefor. However, he too, was starting to slow down, and his injuries were beginning to take their toll. He realized he had to do something decisive, and quickly.

He didn't have to wait long before he spotted his opportunity.

Malefor, in an attempt to conserve energy, had left his right paw down and let the other legs do the work, leaving a gap in his defense. Elijah jumped, rolled, and came back up. He gathered the last of his strength for one last, massive push, and thrust the sword into the soft area behind Malefor's leg.

Malefor kicked him away, but did not pursue him. Instead, he collapsed on the ground with a roar. The battle around them stopped, and it went almost completely silent. Every pair of eyes was on Elijah, as he pushed himself to his feat, and approached Malefor's head.

He said nothing. He did nothing. He simply watched as the life left his eyes, and the great dragon, who's ego was his downfall… died….

 **1 Year Later….**

It looked like nothing had happened. One could have fallen into a coma before the war, then woken up after, and had no idea it ever happened. That is, until he talked to literally anyone walking around the busy city. The war had taken its toll on every living being in the city, if not the world.

But the most affected, are the ones who don't speak about it, the ones that fought, the ones that won it.

For Elijah, things became very complicated soon after, as new traditions conflicted with his old ones, and old friends moved on… or didn't move on. Regardless, he worked out his issues with Lillian and Emily, with a little help from Spyro, Cynder, Aleah, and Gloria.

With things calming down, and returning to the most 'normal' state he would ever know again, he began living his life one day at a time, and for once, focusing on what made him happy, and not saving a world, or fighting the enemy….

He was at peace.

He had found and completed his purpose.

His undefined, seemingly purposeless life… was complete.

 **End of An Undefined Lifetime.**


	15. Chapter 15

Hey, just thought I'd type this out for the hell of it.

Kidding, the real reason for this is to reply to a Comment that was left quite a while ago. Quick thanks to everyone who has read the story and enjoyed it.

Now, someone left a Comment stating that I could make a sequel to the story. And while I think that's an amazing idea, I don't think that's something I'm up to writing... I'm obviously not the grestest at the 'Romance' themes, and I think that's where it would lead... But, if there's one of you who thinks you're up to the task, feel free to Message me about it! I don't really want to observe or approve of anything you write, just would like to see something great done with the aspect of my characters I just can't properly express. Meaning, I won't look over your shoulder while you're writing unless you want me too.

I will, however, need some reassurances I'm putting it in capable hands! If you're interested, message me, and I'll check out your profile, and any stories you have written. However, if you haven't written anything yet, I'll just give you my email so you can email me an example of something like chapter one, just so I can get a preview of your capabilities. This also means I can link your story in This one so people can read it!

On a final note, I've found that this story actually made It to the Google Search Screen just searching for these kinds of stories! I think that means its popular, so horay! Thank you all and I hope to hear from some talented writers!


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